House of Wolves
by 247skywalker
Summary: When a young faunus, an aspiring hunter, is accepted into beacon, he believed that they would be the greatest years of his life. But when he arrives, he is faced with criminals, terrorists and a deep seated hatred for his kind. But, as he makes friends and overcomes his trials, he learns that racists and rebels are the least of his problems...
1. Chapter 1

He ran. The lights of houses and stores blurring into one mass of neon, the rain pelting down onto the road obscuring his vision. He knew it was there, he could sense it. A simple prank had turned into a bloodbath, and that… _thing_ had looked at him with its glowing red eyes after tearing his comrades apart, ripping them literally limb from limb and devouring their innards like a child would eat noodles. Its bloodied face contorted into something like a smile as it looked at him, its cold features shuddering as if laughing, it eyes staring into his soul. Then he heard it, a blood curdling voice, sharp and apathetic. It said one simple thing. _Run. _So run he did. He almost made it to the jeep when he heard it. The chilling howl of an otherworldly creature.

He wrenched the door to the jeep open and clambered inside, eager to be away from the walking nightmare that was now pursuing him. He turned the key to hear… nothing. The engine wasn't even responding, let alone starting. He looked up to see those glowing red eyes stalking towards him. The monstrosity was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a teenager with snow white hair, a torn white shirt, torn ¾ pants and those daemonic red eyes. He thought for a second, then decided to leg it, the eyes unsettling him more than anything.

Lighting illuminated the sky as thunder boomed like artillery fire. He saw the teen had ears. Wolf ears, and was smiling a fanged smile. The teen drew a 45" curved long sword from his belt and pointed at the soldier with its tip. '_A Faunus_' the soldier thought, smiling and drawing his own weapon, a standard issue Atlas Military gun blade. The Faunus' smile grew and he started to walk slowly towards the soldier, who aimed the gun at the wolf and fired, full-auto.

35\. Rounds sprayed all around the Faunus, not a single round hitting as he deflected the burst with his own weapon, still smiling. Then, in a voice that didn't belong in this world, let alone a teenager, it said.

"_My turn._"

The Faunus raised his blade and charged, almost teleporting, into the soldier, driving his blade straight though his stomach, sweeping overhead with his weapon and cutting the soldier clean in half, a fountain of blood spaying so intensely that it could match the typhonic weather in power.

The sounds of sirens wailed off in the distance as the teen walked away, blood dripping off of it's blade and onto the road as he walked away, the torrential rain wiping away all trace of their presence.

* * *

'Luka! Wake up Luka! You're going to be late!" a female voice called from a different room.

A mass of sheets and pillows lay on the bed within the dark room, posters of weapons and military vehicles lined the walls, a sword sheath and a holster hung from the bedpost, the gun in question upon the bedside table, the sword nowhere to be seen.

Something moved beneath the sheets, a long metallic blade slowly sliding out the side. Then the sheets were suddenly thrown off to reveal a bedraggled male teenage Faunus. He had Purple eyes, midnight black hair and wolf ears. He was about 6'1" and was quite slim, but not underweight. He slid the sword into its sheath and walked out of the room. A few minutes later, he came back in with a plate of toast and some clothes. With one massive bite of what was left of his first slice, he grabbed his towel and clothes and walked out once more.

When he entered again, he wore a pair of black cargo pants, black combat boots, a black t-shirt with the letters S.P.Q.R. emblazoned under an eagle on it. He wore a modified black trench coat that came down to his thighs and had a white fur collar. He finished his breakfast, strapped the holster upon his right leg and belted his sheath upon the left. Before he left, he zipped up his coat and pulled up a pair of black leather gloves.

Luka walked down the corridor and into the main living room. It was a cosy room with a decent sized fire, a small table with two chairs on either side, a small kitchenette off to the side and two lounge chairs in front of the fire.

"Ah, there you are! I was beginning to wonder if you drowned in the shower." The female voice mused.

Luka turned towards the kitchen to reveal a middle aged woman walking towards him with a coffee in each hand.

"Morning Aunt, how are you?" Luka asked, taking a coffee and quickly downing it.

"Now you're in a hurry?"

She was about 5'7" with chocolate brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. Unlike Luka, she was not a Faunus. The current caretaker of the young boy, she was good friends with his family before they disappeared, leaving young Luka behind at the ripe old age of 2. She took the boy in and raised him as if he were her own, until her friends returned. If they returned.

There was a knock at the door and it opened to reveal a tall man wearing a plaid shirt, jeans and boots.

"Morning Kat, Luka" the man said.

"Ah, Robert! Just in time! He's here and… relatively ready." Kat replied.

"Good, the bullhead is due any minute now, and a few people wish to give him parting gifts."

Luka placed his cup upon the table and walked over to Kat, hugging her and kissing her on the forehead.

"I'm off, take care while I'm gone, don't burn down the hut" Luka said, winking at her.

"No need to worry about me dear, go and make us proud. The first of our village to be accepted into Beacon Academy, and invited, in person by the headmaster himself!" she exclaimed, hugging him tight, before letting go and placing something in his hand. "It was your fathers. I think he would want you to have it."

Luka opened his hand to reveal a loop of cord with a dark red crystal crucifix upon it. Luka smiled and pulled it over his head, tucking it into his jacket.

"Thank you Kat." He said, hugging her once more.

"Ahem. Not to interrupt or anything, but we have a lot to do and not much time to do it in." Robert interrupted, staring pointedly at Kat and gesturing towards the door.

"Of course. You must be off. Luka, go make us proud."

Luka nodded and closed the door, leaving a smiling Kat, who had tears in her eyes.

"Go make your parents proud."

* * *

Luka stepped out into the cold morning air. It had snowed earlier, but the sky was clear as he made his way towards the town centre. The newly fallen snow crunched under his boot as he made his way to the first person who wished to see him. He entered the tannery where a lean, middle aged cat Faunus awaited him. After a brief exchange, he was gifted small bags for his belt, to carry equipment while in combat. He continued around like this for a few minutes, accepting congratulations and exchanging goodbyes with the various townsfolk. He entered the blacksmith last, the warmth radiating from the forge. Within awaited a burly man wearing nothing but brown leather trousers, a leather apron and a magnificent beard.

"Ah, Luka. I believe Gilan was looking for you." The man said

"I wouldn't be surprised. How are you, Rorick?" Luka replied

"Same old, same old. I have something for ya." Rorick said, pulling a metal case from underneath his workbench. "Here, thought you could make more use of it than I could."

It was a metal armguard that covered his forearm up until his wrist. Inset underneath was a small pointed, spiked barb. Luka put it on his left hand, flicked his wrist and the barb shot out, metal cord trailing behind.

"A grappling hook, for outside, mind you." Rorick warned, teasing the teen. Luka smiled and accepted the gift, thanking the man and walking out.

After walking outside, he ran into a hooded man wearing a long cloak of mottled green and dark brown.

"Gilan, looking for me?"

The man nodded and handed Luka a metal object. Luka pressed a button on the grip to reveal a collapsible metal bow. Gilan held out a sheath for the bow and a quiver, containing 20 arrows.

"Thankyou, I'll buy some more when I get to Beacon."

Gilan nodded and handed him a sack and a hard plastic folder full of documents for Beacon.

Just as Luka went to turn around, a bell sounded from the town centre. Off in the distance, a bullhead was coming in, closing fast.

Beside the makeshift landing pad stood the village leader and Kat. The bullhead landed, stirring up the freshly fallen snow, blowing drifts all around the town. The door opened to reveal two armed guards and Professor Opzin himself. The guards walked out and stood either side of the door, automatic rifles down, but fingers on the trigger as they scanned the crowd for danger. Opzin walked over to the village chief none the less, shaking hands with the other man and talking as Robert loaded Lukas' luggage on board, a single, rather small suitcase and a backpack.

A few seconds later, Opzin shook hands with the man again, nodded at Kat, who curtsied in response, and walked over to Luka.

"Hello again Luka, how are you feeling? Nervous?" Opzin asked

"A little, sir, but I'm excited as well." Luka replied.

"Good, step aboard and we'll be at Beacon in no time."

Luka jumped up into the Bullhead as Opzin climbed into his seat. The engines started and the guards closed the door, sitting either side of Opzin, wary of the Faunus.

"Don't worry about the guards Luka, they're always like this." Opzin said, standing up and walking over to the boy, sitting next to him, much to the chagrin of the ever-watchful guards.

"How long until the year starts?" Luka asked, fiddling with his gloves, which he had taken off in the mild heating from the bullheads thrusters.

"In a week, I'll take the documents you have and process your information, even though you've already been accepted. In that time, you can do whatever you wish, as long as it's legal. We also have a guest house ready for you to stay in during that period. After that, you will be placed in your team and bunk in the dorms." Opzin told him. "Don't worry about being picked on either; we have a zero tolerance for bullying of any kind, including racial discrimination. We also have a higher-than-normal Faunus acceptance rate this year, if that makes you feel any better. But, regardless, I'm sure you'll make friends quickly."

Luka smiled slightly, enjoying the comfort of the engines as they flew along. A few minutes later, the quiet was disturbed by the sound of the intercom as the pilot told them they were coming in to land.

When they docked, Luka stepped out first, looking out over the bustling city of Vale as the citizens went about their daily business.

"A nice view, I know, but I prefer this one" Opzin told him, gesturing behind them.

The guards pulled his luggage off the bullhead just before it took off. When it did, there was a sight to behold. There were soaring towers, long, stretches of green, banners fluttering in the wind and people walking around a courtyard in the distance, both civilian and student, along with some VDF soldiers. Opzin walked up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder, also looking at the scene before them.

"Welcome to Beacon"


	2. Chapter 2

Luka stepped through the door of his temporary home, inspecting the Guest house and looking for the many private facilities Opzin had promised. After stepping off the Bullhead, Opzin had escorted him to the main administration, procured a guest house and then departed to his own quarters. One of the guards immediately followed him, rushing to his side and scaring off anyone who may have wished to walk with a meter of the professor. The other guard pulled out a small map, marking the location of the guest houses and leaving it with Luka, and then ran after his comrade, just squeezing in the elevator before the doors closed.

Luka walked through the hallway and into a cosy living room. It had a small two person table, a kitchenette, a couch in front of a mounted 27" T.V. and a staircase leading to the upper level. He wandered upstairs to find a small bedroom with a door leading to a bathroom and a set of cupboards set into the left wall.

He dumped his backpack on the bed and placed his suitcase at the foot of it, walking over to the window. In the distance, the skyscrapers of Vales city center could be seen, dwarfed by the massive spires of Beacon academy.

Luka walked back down the stairs, walking to the door when he heard the doorbell.

"Convenient" he said to himself, opening the door to meet his visitor. Waiting for him was a young girl wearing the Beacon uniform. She had brown hair, brown eyes, and the ears of a rabbit. "Yes?"

"Uh... I'm Velvet, Velvet Scarlatina. I'm a second year student here at Beacon, I've been sent to give you a tour, as professor Opzin wasn't able to, Mr… Luka?"

"That is my name, yes." Luka replied

"I'm sorry; I didn't get your last name when they told me to come here." Velvet said apologetically.

"Luka is fine, Miss Scarlatina." He said, motioning out the door. "Where to first?"

* * *

"And that was pretty much the whole school. Any questions?" Velvet asked, walking into the main foyer of the academy, where they started the tour.

"Only one, why did I get a personal tour? Not that I'm not grateful, but won't I get one at the start of the year anyway?" Luka queried.

"Ah, about that. New students aren't given a tour; they only have their scrolls and the locations of their classrooms, the rest we have to figure out ourselves. As for why you got a tour, Opzin likes to give personal tours to his guests, but he's busy right now, so he asked me to do it instead."

"That's _Professor_ Opzin to you, Miss Scarlatina." A blonde woman reprimanded from behind Velvet.

"Ah! Sorry, Professor Goodwitch." Velvet apologized, bowing to the teacher.

"As you should be. And you are?" Goodwitch gestured towards Luka.

"Luka, Ma'am." Luka said, dipping his head slightly.

"Luka. You're the new student who didn't write a surname on his application form. Why." Goodwitch said, more of a command than a question.

"I don't have a surname, ma'am." Luka replied, his body stiffened and his tone hardened as he spoke.

"And you honestly expect me to believe that?"

"No. But it's true all the same."

Goodwitch let out an exasperated sigh. 'What was your parent's last name?"

"Never met my parents, ma'am."

"Very well, Luka, I will speak to professor Opzin. If you are lying, expect consequences." Goodwitch threw behind her as she stormed off towards the elevator.

Velvet looked up from the floor, sympathy evident in her eyes. "Well, uh, welcome to Beacon"

* * *

Luka stepped off the Bullhead that took him into Vale for his night of exploration. He had insisted that he was perfectly capable of walking down the mountain, but the travel guide he had asked wouldn't have it, insisting that he use a bullhead or another vehicle to descend the mountain. Apparently, as an 'honored guest' of Opzin, he was to be given the special treatment.

So here he was, strolling down the main business district of Vale as the sun slowly sunk into the horizon, scanning the stalls lining the street, all selling their different variety of the same thing. He patted his pocket, checking to make sure his wallet still remained there. He knew cities of this scale most certainly had criminals, and he wouldn't put it past the citizenry to engage in some light pick pocketing. When he left, Opzin had given him a card, saying that the school would tab his expenses until the year started. Suspiciously, Opzin had refused to directly reply when Luka asked how much was on the card, waiting a few seconds before stating that it was a debit card. Luka simply took the card with gratitude and went on his way, resolving to just buy what he needed and give it back.

He had decided to change his appearance for the warm night, wearing a grey T-shirt emblazoned with a white Delta, black Cargo pants, his heavy boots and a dark grey hoodie, to cover up his heritage. Velvet told him that the people here weren't very accepting of Faunus, so he decided to play it safe, at least until he was proved otherwise. He had also opted to leave most of his weapons behind, taking his grapnel launcher strapped to his left arm and his hand cannon, which he concealed within his hoodie.

He found what appeared to be a weapons store tucked in the corner where two streets intersected, away from the loud crowds and bright lights. He walked up to the front door to see that it was still open, but abandoned. The sign out the front read "_Wilbur's' Weapons, Arms and Armour"_ engraved in a bronze plaque. Luka stepped through the door, his ears twitching under his hood as he heard a chime from the back room and some shuffling. Luka turned to face the display cabinets to reveal an assortment of stock weapons, from assault rifles to swords and everything in between.

After scanning the room for anything useful, spying the ammunition section of the store. He wandered over to find .45 calibre bullets for his side arm, which he grabbed four cases of, one HE and one Large Bore, the others were standard, and Arrows. The projectiles were assorted into different categories. He found Standard arrows, fire arrows, Broad Heads (Armour Piercing), High explosive, sonic arrows, smoke screens, and conductive arrows. Above the mix of multi-purpose heads were the more exotic array, proudly displayed for all to see. Under the plaques were brief descriptions of the devastating ordinance that was displayed.

There were 'Hellfire' arrows, arrows that would ignite a foe and never stop until it was completely immolated. The tip was black and a flaming pattern had been painted along the shaft, with fiery feathers at its end. There was a warning underneath it talking about the dangers of using it in flammable areas. Next to it was the 'Quake' arrow, a thick, heavily shafted explosive arrow. It was designed to penetrate deep into the earth and detonate, creating a massive shock wave. It also had a warning about using it in built up areas, cities, and against people. Next in line was the 'Stormcaller', an arrow designed for flight. It was thin, completely metal and had an intriguingly designed head, looking like a cross between a wind catcher and a generator. Its description read 'An arrow designed for calling down the wrath of heaven. This godly projectile is designed for firing into the sky, it generates electrical storms, useful in tandem with conductive arrows.'

The fourth was an arrow with a small speaker where the arrow usually was. Its name was the 'Blowout'. It was designed to unleash a sonic boom a few seconds after being released, immediately killing everything in front of it and stunning all those around. It also acted as an EMP, disabling all unshielded electronic devices within its blast radius. Once again, there was a warning, describing how this was designed to kill, not stun, and was not to be confused with sonic arrows.

The final arrow was more like a javelin crossed with an artillery shell. It was cylindrical, thick and most certainly not built to do damage. At least, not when fired from a bow. It was labelled the 'Exterminartus'. It was an arrow that was designed to be fired directly vertical, it would then rocket into sub-orbit. Once it reached the desired altitude, it would release a multitude of smaller high-explosive projectiles would drop back down onto its target. The projectiles had micro-computers that allowed them to guide themselves in transit, remaining reasonably accurate. This, unlike its cousins, did not have a warning, instead, it had a usage guide. It said "ONLY USE AGAINST HORDES OR NESTS OF GRIMM. THIS WEAPON IS DESTRUCTION INCARNATE."

Luka smirked, he doubted that the arrow, while certainly effective, was as powerful as the label claimed, probably just the Fletcher marveling at their creation. He heard footsteps from behind him and felt the vibration of the floorboards. He swiveled around to face the man approaching him. He was a large man, obviously the store owner and most likely the blacksmith of most of the weapons.

"Can I help you, sir?" the man spoke. He had a deep baritone voice, but it was gentle, like a farther speaking to his child.

"Ah, yes. I'd like to buy these." Luka replied, handing him the small crates filled with ammunition. He then threw a thumb behind him "and I'd like some of those."

The man peered behind his customer to the arrow section. "Which ones?"

"All of them. I'd like twenty standards, ten of the other styles, and five each of the more exotic collection." Luka stated. He'd been taught how to trade with others by Kat, who believed it would be a handy skill should he be accepted into Beacon. She was right.

"Uhuh, right. That's going to be quite the hefty price." The man said, eyeing his hoodie. "Not to mention I can't just give out these weapons of mass destruction to just anyone."

"If you need Identification, I have mine right here, and I have the money." _I hope_

Luka handed his Beacon student card, which had been issued to him earlier in the day. He flicked back his hood so the proprietor could get a good look at his face. The man eyed Lukas' ears, his eyes flashed with concern, then doubt and finally settled on a guarded gaze. He looked down at the card, then up, then back down. He repeated this a few more times before smiling, handing back the card.

"Wasn't expecting to be handing out student discounts this early in the year. If its Grimm you're killing, then you will need more." The man walked towards the display cases of the more exotic ordinance. "As for my rare stock, I'm gonna need the head of an Ursa Major before you get those. Or the tail of a Death stalker. Or the mask of a Nevermore. Just as proof that you're a hunter who knows what he's doing, I hope you understand."

Luka nodded, it made sense, after all. No point giving a WMD to a complete rookie.

The man pulled out a small note pad and jotted down the order. "I'll send these to Beacon; you'll get them before the term starts." He then walked over to the register at the back of the store, jotted in a few numbers and then waved Luka over to him.

"You take debit?" Luka asked

"With orders like this, it's hard not to."

Luka swiped the card and hoped that there was indeed enough money to pay for his expenses.

"How much is all this anyway?"

"In total, about five thousand Lien. But don't worry about the expenses. Opzin's got it covered." Luka let a look of skepticism cross his features. "Trust me kid, it happens almost every year." He handed over the cases of 45. Ammo in a small backpack. Luka took the bag and slung it over his shoulder, nodded in gratitude and flicked his hood back over his head as he walked out of the store. He had stopped trying to figure out the city dwellers and simply rolled with it. Blending into his surroundings was one of the first things he had been taught when he first trained with his teacher.

His stomach rumbled and he decided that food was the most immediate issue at hand.

* * *

As he was walking towards the mountain, planning on walking back up after his meal of fast food hamburgers and the drink with the most sugar as possible in it, which he had always wanted to try as soon as he got to a big city, he saw three black SUVs driving in convoy pull up outside a small alley. Men in black suits wielding an assortment of weapons all clambered out, following a red haired man in a white coat wielding a walking stick. His curiosity piqued, Luka decided to follow at a distance. He fired his grappling hook at the top of a nearby building, clambering up quickly before continuing after the men, dropping into a low crouch out of instinct, pulling out his hand cannon as he stalked.

The weapon in question had a revolving chamber, but the long barrel resembled more of a pistol. It had ornate engravings of wings down the sides of the barrel, gold inlay making them stand out from the silver weapon. He flicked out the chamber; a full six bullets stared back at him. Smiling, he snapped it back into place, quietly pacing down towards the edge, before quickly sprinting and leaping over to the next building.

Four men followed their leader into a small dust shop, named '_From Dust 'Till Dawn_'. Luka waited for a bit, tempted to jump down, but he hesitated, waiting for an event he couldn't describe. Seconds later, one of the thugs flew through the window, slamming into the pavement, alerting his companions. A small girl in black with a red hood followed him, deploying a large scythe as she walked out the ruined window. The thugs raised their weapons and she pre-empted them, firing what appeared to be a large calibre sniper rifle inbuilt in her scythe. He was about to jump down and join her when a cold shiver ran down his spine.

He listened behind him, his ears reaching behind to capture any sound. He heard the soft clicking of high heels. Luka spun around and fired two shots at his target. The heavy gunfire easily masked by the chaos below. The woman behind him simply smiled, her mismatched eyes lit up in amusement.

"So, the mutt has claws. Come, we shall see if they are sharp, pup." She said in a light, melodic voice. Her tone masked the malice that was evident in her eyes.

Luka grunted and obliged, firing two more rounds dead at the girl before dashing off to the left. She deflected with a parasol that seemed to appear from thin air. She smiled, taunting the Faunus to continue his assault. Luka fired his remaining two and ducked behind cover to reload.

As his hands took to the job of re-arming himself, his eyes observed his opponent. Her outfit was impractical, high-heels, necklaces and a corset, with jeans and a thin undershirt of whites, pinks and browns, her hair matching her colour scheme, her eyes switching colour every time she blinked.

Someone who deflected bullets while looking like she was out for a stroll was not someone to take lightly. Luka slipped a HE into the chamber, just to disorient her, and walked calmly out to meet her. She smiled again and launched at him, almost teleporting, and swung a fist straight at his head, which he blocked and then lashed out with his booted foot, which she deflected with her parasol. This exchange of blows continued for a few seconds before he dis-engaged, leaping up onto an air-con unit. He fired off a shot in her direction, missed completely and then slipped on the edge, falling over the other side.

She smirked and slid an estoc out from within her parasol, launching over the A/C unit to finish the Faunus. Right into the waiting barrel of his hand cannon. He fired his HE round directly into her face, which she cut with her blade, unaware of its explosive nature. It detonated and sent her flying into the sky.

Luka fired his grapnel into the air, looping it around his opponent and slamming her into the roof of the building. He walked over to her, kicking her estoc and her parasol out of reach and slammed his boot into her chest, winding her and temporarily disabling her. He pointed the gun at her head. At point blank, he wouldn't miss and she knew it.

"Concede." He stated, panting lightly, his aim unwavering.

"So the pup has fangs. Congrats, next time I might take you seriously." The woman spat at him, her eyes took on an amused light, her mouth curving up slightly.

One part of Lukas' mind told him to kill her, dispose of a potential threat before it could come back to bite him. The other half reminded him of his duty to protect the innocent. Killing someone before training started wasn't the best first impression. He thought about it before firing at her head.

The smoking hole in the roof mere millimeters from her face.

"You escape with your life." Luka said, lifting his boot off of her chest. She simply laughed.

"Foolish dog." She spat, smiling.

Luka pulled back the action, letting a red hot shell fly from the top. He caught it in between his finger and his thumb, examining it quickly before falling onto the girl, his knee digging into her rib cage.

"I said your life." He spat back, smirking. "Not your voice." He then promptly rammed the shell into her throat as he watched he face contort from a look of barely contend amusement to sheer horror. He got up and walked off towards the now silent street as she gagged, trying to remove the foreign object from her throat before it did permanent damage.

She saw a slight hand movement from her tormentor seconds before the grapnel swing around her hands, tying her hands together and dragging her towards the edge, preventing her from removing the shell. Tears ran down her face as she stood up, fighting against the metal cord that held her hands. She tried to scream, but all that came out was a futile gurgle. By the time the cord had released, it was far too late, and she collapsed on the floor.

Watching from the top of a nearby air-con unit, Luka retracted the grapnel, walking towards the unconscious woman. He pulled on his gloves and extracted the shell. No use leaving evidence lying around that could trace back to him. He pocketed the shell and his gloves as he continued on his way towards Beacon. As soon as he hit the pavement, which was now filled with the unconscious and injured thugs from earlier, he saw a Beacon bullhead fly up from the roof. He waved at the pilot, hoping that the pilot would recognise him, however small that chance. He did.

The bullhead opened to reveal two armed guards, Professor Goodwitch, and the small girl from earlier. He informally saluted to the pilot and climbed aboard, nodding to the guards and the professor before sitting down next to the girl. He leaned over to her and offered his hand.

"Saw your work, nice job back there." He said.

The girl blushed slightly and took his hand, pumping it enthusiastically. "Thanks!"

"Would've helped out, but you had reinforcements on the roof, thought I'd take care of them for you" he lied. The best lies always had a hint of truth to them. This one happened to be almost completely true.

"Thanks again. The names Ruby, Ruby Rose." She introduced herself.

"Luka, no surname." He replied, smiling.

Goodwitch frowned at them, which pretty much killed any chance of further conversation on the way back. Luka stared out the window instead. He thought of what would become of the mismatched girl, and shook his head. He'd see her again, he knew it. And when he did, he'd beat her back into a crying wreak once more.

Little did he know how wrong he was.


	3. Chapter 3

After the night in Vale, the week sped by for Luka. He visited the training room, where he watched the second years and one third year pair duke it out before the term began, getting in as much training as possible. He even participated in an all-out brawl with five other guys. It was regulated, but no weapons were allowed. Luka came second, still sporting bruises from some of the hard hitters and a bite mark from a one of them as his arm slammed into his open mouth. It was accidental, of course, but it still hurt slightly.

He was now walking towards the hall, strolling through the sparsely wooded park, orientation coming up in a few hours in the main hall. As he was walking, he thought about the many things that had been plaguing his mind in recent days. Namely a few nights ago, questions like what had become of his opponent, if she had alerted the authorities, if she had even survived, but the chances of her dying were slim. His internal voice often duelled with him in a battle of ideals. But it had never let him down in matters of common sense and survival before, and he respected his own ideas.

As he thought, he wondered of what became of the little girl in the red hood. Was she okay? _She has a scythe and a sniper rifle, she can handle herself._ Was she attending Beacon? _She was what, 15? And it's too close to the new term to enrol her for this kind of thing._ Will I see her again? _Doubtful. But possible._ What was she doing in the shop?_ None of your business, now shut up, we have company._

Luka snapped back into reality, his ears twitching. He heard a distant roar, and he swung around, gun out, expecting something large and deadly. What he was not expecting was the massive VTOL craft flying over the small mountain next to Beacon, no doubt carrying the new intake of students in its massive cargo space. Company indeed.

Luka took off towards the Skydock, hoping that he would get there before the students unloaded.

He only just made it. The anchors fired towards their moorings as Luka fired his grapnel, hooking one of the links in the massive chain anchor. He scrambled up and stalked over to where the ramp was lowering onto the road that led to Beacon. As the blast doors opened, students slowly filed out, providing the perfect opportunity. Luka fell behind the slowly opening blast door and stepped out into the crowd, other people either too occupied with their friends of the scenery that had appeared before them to take any interest in the Faunus who suddenly joined their ranks.

As the crowd reached the point where different people went different ways, Luka stopped and scanned the crowd, pretending to take in the sights of Beacon. He saw a tall guy shoulder past a Faunus, smirking as he lost balance, stumbling into the waiting foot of another man with a green Mohawk. He would have to look out for those two. He also saw a white haired girl screaming at a group of cowering attendants, who were trying, and failing, to follow her every command as she issued the orders. Luka silently thanked whatever ruled the universe that he wasn't stuck in that position.

As he continued, he saw a blonde boy peering over the side of the ramp, trying not to be sick as he slowly shuffled down towards solid ground. Luka grimaced. Motion sickness didn't affect him personally, but he knew a few people that it did. And it didn't look pretty. He continued to look around, noting people that could cause trouble, or help him in that endeavour.

After a few seconds, he stepped backwards, about to turn around, when he noticed a distinct red hood. Standing next to a blonde girl, whose hair looked like it had never had more than a passing acquaintance with a brush, was Ruby Rose.

After Luka got over the shock, he had to resist the desire to go up to her and talk, avoiding her and walking up to the blonde boy instead. The poor knight had collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily in relief. Luka walked up to him and held out his hand. The knight took it and hauled himself up.

"Thanks."

"No problem. The name's Luka" the Faunus Introduced himself.

"Jaune, Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies love it."

Luka laughed slightly, patting Jaune on the back while smiling at him. "I'm sure they do."

"Uh, anyway. Do you have any idea as to where we go from here?" Jaune asked.

"Not really" Luka lied. "But I assume down from here is a good start."

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, a large explosion, a pillar of fire, a snowstorm and an electrical discharge erupted from around the corner.

"Or not." Jaune joked, walking off in that general direction.

* * *

They arrived to find two girls bickering, while Ruby stood in the middle, looking as if she wanted to make herself as small as possible. After a while, the girl in black walked off in the direction of the hall, while the girl in white barked a few orders to her attendants before storming off in the direction of the administration building.

"Is it just me, or do you enjoy getting in to trouble?" Luka asked, prodding the small girl in the shoulder.

Ruby let out a small squeal of surprise, deployed her Scythe and held it at Lukas' neck. Her eyes went wide as she saw who it was, obviously remembering the Faunus. "Luka? You're here too?"

"Indeed I am, though I'm more surprised to see you here." Luka said, smiling.

"Uh, I take it you two know each other?" Jaune asked, his eyes flitting between the two.

"I guess. We met a couple of nights ago." Luka replied.

Jaune nodded, either not hearing what he said, not caring or not understanding.

"So, does anyone know where to go from here?" Ruby asked, looking around.

"Well, snowy went off in the direction of the Admin, so I'd say we follow miss mysterious for now. Luka stated, walking off in the direction of the hall.

After Ruby and Jaune introduced each other, Ruby deployed her Scythe. "So, I got this."

Jaune stumbled in surprise, not used to weapons being shoved into his face. Or at least, not in a friendly manner.

"What is it, exactly?" Luka asked, having turned around and was now walking backwards, looking at Ruby.

"Crescent Rose. One half Scythe, one half High Impact Sniper Rifle, one hundred percent awesome." She replied, stroking the barrel lovingly. She then turned to Jaune. "What you got?"

Jaune scratched the back of his head and awkwardly pulled out his blade, pulling off his sheath and deploying his shield. "Uh, I got this."

Ooh. What's it do? Does it shoot lasers? Does it set on fire? I bet it sets on fire, doesn't it." Ruby shot gunned at him.

Jaune looked at his weapons. "Nah, it's just a sword. But, the shield acts as a sheath, so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just put it back on my belt!"

"Doesn't it still weigh the same?" She pointed out.

"Yeah, it does." Jaune admitted dejectedly.

"So, what do you have?" Ruby asked, attempting to bring Jaune out of his slight moment of sadness.

Luka cursed. He only had his hand cannon on him. It would be sussed if he pulled out a gun now, and came armed to the teeth later.

"Ah, I think I forgot them on the ship." Luka said, looking as if he was about to bolt back towards the dock. "You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up later."

Jaune and Ruby watched as he dashed off towards the carrier.

"Well, that's awkward." Jaune said.

"Hey! People forget things all the time, and it's not like you can talk, Vomit boy." Ruby shot at him, defending Luka.

"Well, I actually meant that Luka was the only one that new where we were going" Jaune shot back, smiling. "…Crater face."

Luka sighed from the bushes where he attempted to stalk past the students to collect his weapons. This was going to be a long few years.

* * *

Luka walked into the hall, just a few minutes from when they were getting started. The room was large, yet still packed full of Beacon hopefuls. He spied Jaune from across the room and walked over to him, seeing that Ruby had found her blonde friend from earlier. Jaune was about to say something when a squeal was hear from behind them.

They turned to see Ruby in the arms of the blonde while the white haired girl continued to berate her. For the most part, they couldn't hear the conversation, but after a bit, she raised her voice.

"Oh yeah, we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, blonde and scraggly and wolfy over there!"

Jaune looked up, slightly confused and Luka flashed a fanged grin, winking as he turned back around. Soon after, Ozpin walked up on stage, gained the attention of the students and began his speech.

"I'll...keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." Ozpin concluded, walking off-stage and letting Goodwitch take over.

"You will be sleeping in the barn tonight, so go and get some rest. Initiation starts tomorrow."

Everyone disbanded and moved off in different directions. Some went to the barn, others towards the gym and the library, most moved off towards the cafeteria. Jaune walked over to the white haired girl, who he assumed was named Wiess, if the previous conversation was anything to go off of.

"I'm a natural blonde, ya know." He said, leaning over and flashing a winning smile over at Luka.

Wiess huffed and stormed off, leaving the dejected young man in her wake.

"Alright lady killer, that's enough for one day." The blonde, Yang, said to Jaune before patting him on the back.

* * *

The barn was, most certainly, not a barn. It was a two story block with a massive amount of empty space. Perfect for storing the 500 odd students who had passed the tests up until now. Luka had taken off his earlier attire and wore a pair of grey loose track suit pants, a light grey shirt two sizes big for him, and his hoodie. He had set up in a corner up the back, with Jaune sleeping next to him. The knight had decided that a onesie was the appropriate attire for the night, and was busy trying to ignore the stares of his peers as he walked over to the bathroom. Luka took out a book he had borrowed from the school library when he spotted the bully and his accomplice from earlier. He followed their unwavering gaze to see a young female Faunus curled up next to a shelf, also reading. She had the ears and tail of a fox. The bullies had the eyes of a hunter, and they had spotted their prey.

Luka stood up and walked over to the girl, easily getting to her before her potential tormentors. He leant over, one arm on the shelf as he leant over, pretending to talk to her. When she noticed him, her eyes lit up with a mixture of confusion and fear.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you, just follow my lead." Luka whispered, flipping back his hood. He glanced back to see that the two boys were not deterred by his presence. If anything, it spurred them on even more.

"Hey dogs. What ya talking about? Grooming habits?" the tall one, obviously the leader, said mockingly. A few people in the area laughed.

"Self-hygiene is indeed important, though I'm not sure you would understand. By the smell of you, you don't even know what the word hygiene means." Luka replied, smirking. A few more people laughed along with the first, and a few 'ooo's we heard throughout the crowd.

The bullies face scrunched up, as if attempting to comprehend what Luka had said.

"Are you insulting my intelligence, mutt?" He replied, after a good few seconds of thinking.

"No, I'm pointing out your lack thereof." The crowd was silent, but you could see they were trying not to laugh.

The bully looked around, saw a third year in full combat gear at the door, and stood down. Not before a few threats were made.

"I'll get you, dog, when you least expect it." He whispered violently in his face.

Luka pretended to wipe spit off of his face. "Can't wait."

The bully stalked off, humiliated. His lackeys followed close behind.

Luka saw Jaune walk out of the bathroom and head towards their corner. He bent down and winked at the girl, whispering "You can thank me later." Before walking back, hoping to get there first.

"Where were you? Jaune asked as he sat down. Luka had taken off his hoodie and used it as a pillow, not needing a blanket in the warm weather.

"Taking care of trouble." Luka replied, lying down on his coat so the uncomfortable carpet wouldn't interrupt his sleep.

"Trouble? What kind of trouble?"

"Nothing of consequence, just doing the right thing."

"Ah, okay. Anyway, lights out in about thirty seconds, see you tomorrow." Jaune yawned, sliding into his sleeping bag and curling up into a ball.

"Yeah, night." Luka said, his eyes staring out into the night sky as the lights shut off.

* * *

The Faunus sat on one of the many spires of Beacon, his white hair fluttering in the wind, his sword swung slightly at his hip. His red eyes scanned the city below as his ears kept lookout for unnatural sounds.

He bared a fanged smile. It was going to be a fun year.


	4. Chapter 4

Luka woke to the sound of snoring. He usually never got up before his alarm, but when he checked the clock, he was thirty minutes before the alarm. He noticed a few vacant sleeping bags and discarded blankets, but most of the cohort slumbered. Jaune was next to him, curled up in a ball next to a nightstand, breathing quietly in his undisturbed sleep. As Luka scanned the room, he found the culprit of the unearthly sound. A young man with blonde hair, similar to Jaune, was leaned up against a book case, softly snoring, so as not to wake the people around him.

He was taller and bulkier than Jaune, and obviously had better fashion sense, sleeping shirtless and with shorts. He slept with a sheathed battle-axe cradled in his arms. Luka also noticed the bull horns atop his head, marking him as a fellow Faunus.

Luka filed him away in the 'potential ally' section of his acquaintances and walked out of the barn, towards the lockers to get ready for Initiation.

* * *

Jaune sat down with Luka, who was already halfway through eating. They had an hour before initiation and planned on eating before they had to fight for their lives. Jaune wore his hoodie and jeans while Luka was kitted out in full combat gear. He wore his trench coat, dark grey cargo pants, his heavy military boots and fingerless gloves. Included in this was a black bullet-proof vest, a quiver filled with arrows strapped to his back, along with his sword, his bow folded up and hanging from a small loop in the lower back of his vest and his hand cannon strapped to his right thigh. His grapnel launcher was secured onto his left arm.

When Jaune had entered, he eyed the gear, stating how awesome his equipment was. Luka had waved it off, most of it was gifts from his friends over the years. Ruby and Yang had later joined them, and Ruby had fan-girled so much she almost missed breakfast.

Ten minutes before initiation, they had left to get changed, leaving Luka and a few others alone in the cafeteria.

He finished his coffee and was about to leave when he heard shouting from the centre of the room. Within was the small fox he had saved earlier, and another Faunus defending her from a group of bullies. It wasn't the same group as last night, but he interfered regardless.

"Leave her alone!" the defender shrieked, her voice braking as she slowly backed up, pushing the timid girl behind her along. The bullies almost surrounded them when Luka intervened.

"Oh yeah? What if we don't, what are you going to do about it?" the main bully asked, a wiry kid with a ratty face and dark blue hair.

"Not much, I assume." Luka said, his gun pointed directly at his head from behind. "But it's no longer her you have to worry about."

The bully faltered, frozen to the spot, before twisting away, pulling out a staff to counter against his unknown assailant. He got half way when an elbow caught the back of his head, a knee to the back and a final fist into his head once more, effectively disabling the student. Luka swapped the cannon to his left hand and drew his sword, pointing it the bullies either side of him. The girl took up the initiative and pulled out dual SMGs, mimicking Luka. The fox Faunus remained behind her protector, but peered out, curious.

"Stand down, take your 'friend' here to the infirmary, and do not interfere with us again." Luka growled. The bullies sneered at him, but followed his directions anyway, leaving the hall and the Faunus alone.

"Thanks for the assist." The girl said, shoving her guns back in their respective holsters.

"No problem. If there's one thing I hate more than being woken up early, it's a bully." Luka replied, grinning.

The girl giggled slightly. "I'm Rachel. This is Belle."

Rachel was obviously a cat, the black ears atop her head and the long, thin tail that waved back and forth slightly, along with the glowing yellow eyes giving it away. She had a caramel skin tone, like she had spent too much time in the sun rather than her heritage, and a large, fanged smile. She wore a skin-tight grey camouflage jumpsuit and sneakers. Her hands were exposed, leaving the small skull tattoo on her right hand open to the world. Her head was adorned with a cloak of the same camouflage pattern.

Belle was, unlike her friend, pale. She also had long, rust coloured hair, white tipped ears and a white tipped tail, both of the same rusty fur. She also had vibrant green eyes, like emeralds. She wore a white double layered robe with blue stripes and a staff. The white wooden staff was adorned with a silver crescent head that had small golden rings and bells inset along the inner edge.

"Luka" he replied, shaking hands with Rachel and bowing to Belle, who curtseyed in reply.

Just as they had finished introductions, the bell went and their scrolls lit up, all displaying a number. He got assigned two, as did his two compatriots. The scroll guided them to a launch area, where none of his previous friends or enemies were. He did notice that the bull from earlier was there, dressed up in white plate armour, wielding a gleaming double sided battle-axe with a wolf head crafted in the middle of either side. Every student took up their places on the launch pads, Ozpin watching and waiting. When everyone was settled, he began his speech.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors and today your abilities will be evaluated in the emerald forest. to complete this trial, you must collect relics. You have been assigned group two. there are a hundred of you, and only 25 relics, therefore, you are fighting your fellow initiates as much as the Grimm who prowl this forest."

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams." Goodwitch took over "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. you shall all be assigned your teammates. Today."

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon" Ozpin continued "So it is in your best interests to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

It was a well rehearsed speech, one that would have been made countless times over.

"Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die." the initiates were silent "You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene."

A few people shuffled, restless or nervous.

"There is an abandoned temple to the north west of this cliff. You must collect one of these relics and make your way back to the main hall, where all survivng teams will be graded appropriately. Any questions?"

Silence.

"Good. oh, and one more thing. Once you have your Relic, other teams can take them from you until you are inside the main hall. Good luck."

When he was done, people started being fired from the platforms into the forest, all to meet what awaited them in the forest. The bull stepped back and ran towards his platform, timing the launch perfectly to get maximum range. Rachel squeezed Belle's hand and took off in the same general direction. When Belle was fired, she went askew, flying off east of the objective. Seeing that he was last and that Belle was the only one over there, he copied the bull, running up to the platform on an angle similar to the one the fox had flown off in. when he jumped onto the platform, he was fired to the west, but his earlier momentum kept him on course. Just.

Luka fired his grapnel to the right, hooking a large tree and managing to regain control over his flight. He continued to fly between the trees when he heard the sound of electricity. He pulled out his sword and dropped into a clearing. Around him were smoking corpses of Beowolves and a few Ursai. In front of him, more Grimm attempted to charge at something, only to be constantly cut down by something in front.

Luka joined the fray, thinning their numbers from behind, his sword sheathed in electrical energy and his gun firing HE rounds. The noise was attracting more and more Grimm, and before he knew it, he was back to back with the other student. He wasn't sure who, as the last few minutes were a blur.

Luka decided that this position wasn't worth his life, wrapped his right arm around the initiate and fired off his grapnel, swinging off in the direction of the objective. He looked down to see the Faunus, Belle. Her clothes slightly singed and her staff head was burning, but otherwise, she looked exactly the same as when they started. Luka, on the other hand, was covered in Grimm blood. The high speeds they were reaching forcing it off slowly, but it was also drying it. _That'll be a pain to clean off._

* * *

A minute later, as they were flying through the trees, Luka heard the sound of a rifle. A very big rifle with a very big bullet. He dis-engaged his grapnel and fell into the bushes below him as what seemed like a tank shell flew overhead. He ducked into a death roll, keeping Belle tucked into his chest so she wouldn't be hurt. When they finally stopped, Luka released Belle, who immediately went into a defensive stance, her staff igniting once more and a blade revealed itself from the base. After scanning the immediate area, she turned around to help Luka up, who was already up and busy checking his equipment for damage. When satisfied, he pulled out his bow, flicked into its firing mode, and stood ready with an arrow nocked.

Belle looked at him with concern, gesturing at him franticly. Luka simply smiled and nodded towards the bushes. "Take cover, you stand out too much. Jump out and attack when they get close."

Belle nodded and, reluctantly, crouched down in the bushes. She flipped the cloth around her shoulders over her head and curled her tail underneath. She also activated some sort of dark energy field to break up her stark clothing, making it appear as if it was simply a bush with a lot of white flowers. Luka stood out in the open, his dark clothing camouflaging him against the shadows of the forests canopy.

* * *

He heard them before he saw them. Twigs cracking and leaves rustling as something large moved their way. It stopped for a second and he saw movement in the upper canopy. He sighted and fired his bow, drawing another arrow as the assailant retaliated with what appeared to be a modified 50 calibre sniper rifle. He dodged out of the way and saw his opponent do the same, his arrow missing them by millimetres. Whatever it was, it certainly didn't fire 50 calibre anymore.

He fired again and a massive white wall charged out from behind a tree, snapping said tree from the base with a double sided axe. One side was a gleaming, wickedly sharp edge, and the other had chainsaw teeth set into it. The moving mountain chose the latter, firing up the teeth and sent it flying towards his midsection. No way to dodge and no way of retaliating.

Just before it hit, Belle tackled Luka out of the way, deflecting the axe with her flaming staff. Luka nodded his thanks and fired his bow at the sniper. The rifle fired again, followed by a scream from the one in the trees. The shell was slow, but powerful. Luka fired his bow, the arrow glancing off the shell, changing its trajectory slightly, dropped it and fired his grapnel at a tree, looping his arm around Belle and pulling her away just in time.

The sniper dropped down and sprinted towards them, screaming at the armoured giant to stop. The warrior complied, powering down his weapon and slinging it over his shoulder. The sniper tackled Belle and hugged her tightly, the hood falling away to reveal Rachel.

"Oh My Oum! I am so sorry! I had no idea! I saw you flying and I thought you were a Nevermore!" Rachel shot-gunned as she swung Belle around, relived that she hadn't inadvertently killed her friend.

Belle smiled and hugged her friend back; looking as if she was laughing, yet no sound came out. _Weird._

Luka turned and stared at the warrior, who went rigid when he face Luka. Suddenly, he swung his axe down and fell to one knee, taking off his helmet and revealing himself to be the bull, small horns coming out the top off his head.

"My Lord! I am sorry for my incompetence earlier! I could not recognise you in your current attire against the shadows. Please forgive me." He said, bowing his head in shame.

Rachel and Belle noticed and joined Luka.

"My Lord? What's this about?" Rachel asked.

"I have no idea; he just suddenly dropped to his knee and begged for forgiveness." Luka replied "And you are forgiven, by the way."

The man nodded and stood up, only to fall into a salute, his legs together and his left hand in a fist across his chest, his right supported by the battle-axe.

Luka slouched slightly to the left and crossed his arms. "Explain, please."

The bull nodded and stood at attention. "You are the Lord of the Wolves. And therefore Faunus royalty." He explained.

"I didn't even know Faunus had royalty." Rachel said, confused.

"Me neither" Luka agreed, gesturing to the bull to continue.

The man sighed. "It's a long story, my lord."

"Then tell it while we walk, we should move while we still have daylight."


	5. Chapter 5

The group was walking towards the relics when Rachel decided to restart the conversation.

"So, Luka, is Royalty?" Rachel asked skeptically

"Yes." The bull replied.

"Bullshit. No offense."

"Some taken."

"I'm with Rachel on this one. I don't even know my parents, let alone my lineage. I doubt I'm who you think I am." Luka stated, attempting to vault a particularly large fallen tree. The fall had hurt more than he expected, and while his aura had taken most of the damage, he still had what felt like a few broken ribs, slowly healing. Belle caught his hand and pulled him up as he slipped. She was surprisingly strong for her stature. Luka nodded his thanks and continued on his way, walking along the tree after Rachel and the bull.

"Also, I'm pretty sure we just skipped Introductions. You are?"

"Forgive my insolence, my lord. I am Travis." The bull turned and bowed, almost causing Rachel to fall off the log.

"I'm Luka." Luka reached over Rachel to shake his hand.

"My lord! I am not worthy!"

"Just shake it, 'oh knightly one'" Rachel mock bowed from behind Luka, having stepped out of his way.

Travis then gave a stiff, firm and awkward handshake.

"There, that wasn't so hard, now was it? I'm Rachel, this is Belle." Rachel introduced. Belle bowed.

"Well, now that that's over, care to explain?" Luka asked. They had vaulted off the Log and continued north, towards the relics.

"Very well. It started hundreds of years ago…" Travis started.

"Really? Just how long is this story?" Rachel sighed.

"Well, if you shut up, you might find out" Travis retorted. "As I was saying, it started hundreds of years ago…"

"Back at the end of the war for survival, once the people gained the power of Dust, the people split up, each one going their own ways. There were four Royal Faunus houses in total. The house of Leviathan, the lord of the Kraken, the house of Mathaiel, the lord of the Pheonix, The House of the Forgotten, who, as its name states, has been lost in time, and the House of Lucian, the lord of the Wolf. These four houses ruled the Faunus of the different kingdoms, like the humans ruled their own kind. The house of Leviathan ruled Mistral, Mathaiel ruled Vacuo, the Forgotten ruled Atlas, and Lucian ruled Vale."

"So, technically, Luka rules Vale?" Rachel asked.

"Yes and no. He does claim the right of rulership for the Faunus here, but he still has shared leadership with the Vale council." Travis replied. Luka remained silent and gestured for him to continue.

"At the start of The Revolutionary War, the Atlesian military declared war on the Forgotten for singular dominance by humans. They succeeded, wiping the house from the pages of history. When that ended, Atlas was in uproar, the citizens protested outside of the capitol building, boycotted military service and even destroyed military supply depots and manufacturing structures. Regardless, Atlas not only declared war on the three other houses, but he pushed the other three kingdoms to declare war as well. During the war, the kingdoms started to get power hungry, and oppressed its own citizens. People around the world rose up and rebelled. By that time, the house of the Pheonix had fallen, and the house of the Kraken was in disarray."

"So the Royal houses got wiped?" Rachel asked again, more mockingly.

"Not quite. When the combined alliance forces reached Vale, The house of the Wolf had allied with the rebels and what was left of the Kraken house. They managed to repel the forces and engaged in Guerrilla warfare with the humans. Without their militaries, the other three Kingdoms quickly fell to Revolutionary forces, which then joined our rebels in Vale. It was a crushing defeat for the alliance, but they managed to find the Wolves stronghold, and slaughtered almost everyone inside. The Kraken was lost, and the Wolves barely made it out. Without a proper leader, the House of Wolves handed their authority over to the newly formed Vale council until such a time that an appropriate Lord stood up to retain Kingship."

"And has one such individual stood up to claim it?" Luka asked.

"Many times, all of them were denied." Travis replied.

"So, according to you, I am the rightful ruler?" Luka more ordered than asked.

"Yes. Royal purple eyes, the kingly stance, you even slouch to the left! It's almost the spitting image of Lucian!" Travis shouted, gesturing wildly at his features. "You're only missing white hair, but that was an accident with a dust crystal, apparently. All of the other heirs have had midnight black hair, like you."

"Great. Well, Travis, I'm honoured that you believe I'm royalty, but I can assure you, I'm simply a Faunus who looks a lot like a king." Luka stated, walking slightly faster. "Like anyone would want me as a king anyway, I was raised by humans."

"You could say you're a Royal Bastard!" Rachel laughed, skipping up to meet him.

"Very funny. I'm going to regret saying anything."

"B-But, My Lord! You…" Travis started

"And none of that 'My Lord' crap either, I'm your friend, not your king." Luka shouted.

"Very well, Luka." Travis conceded.

They walked in silence for a bit, until Rachel suddenly dashed ahead, not even caring to tell the group where she was going.

About ten seconds later, a loud shout of joy was heard. The rest ran up the slope to meet her.

"I found the temple!" she called, jumping in joy. Within the 'temple' was twenty five pedestals, of which one had a chess piece upon it. A black King.

"So, is this a relic?" Rachel asked.

"I believe so." Travis said, picking it up.

"But there's only one…" Rachel tailed off, looking sadly over at Belle.

"No problem, we find another group, defeat them, and take their relic." Luka stated, deploying his bow and facing the forest.

"Isn't that cheating?" Rachel queried.

"No, Ozpin said that we could take Relics from other groups until they reached the main hall. No doubt there's going to be a melee when we get there. In the meantime, keep your eyes and ears open for other groups. Let's go."

"My lor… Luka, take the relic." Travis held the piece out to him.

"No, you picked it up, it's yours. We'll get another piece."

"I insist you take it. If we fail, then you can still attend Beacon."

"I'd prefer Belle attended in my stead, as well" Rachel said. Belle walked over to Travis and closed his hand.

"No. It's yours. _When_ we get another piece, we'll go the main hall. Together." Luka said, taking off towards the forest.

* * *

They exited the forest, encountering a few groups who were doing the exact same thing they were. The stairs to the top of the otherwise sheer cliff that held Beacon academy were currently heavily guarded. Bodies of defeated and unconscious students littered the clearing as two men guarded the entrance. One was armoured so thickly, you couldn't see any skin. The other sat above the gate with a mini-gun, tearing into anyone brave, or stupid, enough to exit the trees.

The gunner stood atop a stone arch, he wore an open FLAK vest with a black tank top underneath as well as jungle camouflaged cargo pants. He had short black hair with a red streak straight down the middle, mismatched blue and green eyes and a cocky grin. He held the massive Mini-gun in his hands, obviously something within the machine, or his aura allowing his lithe frame to wield such a devastating weapon.

"This could be a problem." Rachel stated, looking through her scope. "The gunner has an energy shield. He doesn't even have to drop it to fire. Must be metal bullets, dust rounds don't hold a candle to that thing."

"Well that's going to be a problem." Luka said, looking through the monocular he borrowed from Travis. "The armoured one doesn't seem to be doing much other than look intimidating. Regardless, don't underestimate him."

The gunners' companion wore simple gunmetal grey armour that completely covered his body. The only exceptions were his shoulder plates, which were painted gold. He also had a yellow stripe on his left leg, and yellow strips of cloth around his waist, giving him the appearance of a man with a kilt, or a heavily armoured Greek warrior from ancient Mistral. He also appeared to have the same sunburst yellow cloth within the armour, holding the plates together.

A burst of fire came from the woods, the bullets simply glancing off the armour, its occupant not moving an inch. The mini-gun retaliated, probably missing, but the hidden gunman got the message.

The gunner above the gate then stood up and called "If anyone in the forest has a relic, do not be afraid, we are challenging others to gain ours!"

"How can we trust you?" someone called from the tree line.

The armoured man held out his hand, within was a piece. The Black King.

A few teams walked out, relics in hands with their hands above their heads, to show they weren't threatening them. A few others tried to take the chance, rushing the gate as they were distracted, but were instantly gunned down, causing the assailants to retreat, or fall.

"Well, there's out ticket." Luka said, lowering the monocular and handing it back to Travis, who put it back into its pouch upon his belt. "Think you can take him?"

Travis examined the armour. "It'll be tough, but I got him."

"Rachel, can you hit that gunner from here?"

"Can I?" she replied matter of factly.

"Well, can you?" Travis asked after a few seconds

"Of course I can!" she snapped back.

Luka sighed, and turned to Belle. "I need you to support me when all hell breaks loose. Can you do it?"

Belle nodded and took out her staff, ready to go.

"Alright. Here's the plan."

Luka stepped out of the bush, drew his sword and aimed it at the gunner above the gate. It was a decorative stone arch that stood in front of the staircase. It wasn't actually all that functional.

"I accept your challenge."

The gunner smiled and aimed the gun, firing it up and letting the barrel spin as he responded "Where's your partner?"

"Right here."

As he said that, Travis barged out of the bushed, battle-axe brandished as he rushed the armoured man. The gunner opened up into him, surprised when it did nothing.

During the briefing, Luka had gotten explanations from the other team about their semblances. Travis' was called Juggernaut. Juggernaut rendered him immune to almost every ranged and some melee weapons when he ran, the shield getting stronger the faster he moved. It also gave him heightened physical resistance and strength, allowing him to wield the massive battle-axe without much effort.

The bullets ricochet off of the force field that was created in front of him, also stopping the sudden fist that came flying from the armoured giant. As the fist collided with the field, forcing Travis back, he swung his axe, gaining extra power from the backwards motion and slamming into his opponent so hard it knocked him sideways a few meters. He then activated the axes' second fire mode, creating a small auto-cannon in the top of his weapon, and fired round after round into the giant.

While this was happening, the gunner fired at Luka, aware that his weapon had little to no effect against the axe wielding warrior. With a flick of his wrist, the bullets stopped short, slamming into an invisible wall before dropping, uselessly, to the ground.

Luka smiled and snapped his fingers, taunting the gunner. He didn't take the bait. Seconds later, a bolt of pure electricity slammed into the gunners' energy field, almost over-loading it.

Lukas' semblance was the rare elemental control. He could manipulate energy in; arguably, it's most powerful state, electricity. This came in forms such as the static field he deployed to stop the bullets, and the lightning he called earlier. It worked best with energy around him, like machinery or an overcast day. Otherwise, he had to generate it himself, and that tiered him out quickly. It was slightly overcast, so he could keep it up, but not for long.

He sheathed his sword, pulled out his bow and nocked the arrow, ready to fire. He was about to taunt the gunner again when Travis and his opponent tumbled back into view. Travis was on top, pushing down on the axe towards his enemy. Travis was a big man, all muscle and determination, but the other man was even more so. He slowly, but surely, pushed Travis off. Luka fired at the knight underneath, the incendiary arrow catching onto the cloth around his waist. He drew and fired again, this time at the gunner, who was aiming at Travis, despite not knowing of his lack of ranged protection. _Desperation._

Despite having a shield, the gunner flinched, giving Travis the time he needed to roll off the burning figure of the Giant. The flames didn't appear to faze the metal mountain, as he got back up and into fighting stance.

Luka decided enough was enough, and called down lightning again, this time overloading the shield and stunning the gunner. As soon as the shield was destroyed, the sound of a cannon rebounded against the cliff and the gunner was blown from his perch.

Rachel had come through after all. Her semblance allowed her to slow down time as well as zoom in on her opponents, with her naked eye alone. She wanted to call it 'Sniper Pro' after something in a game, but Belle had apparently come up with the decisively better name, Time's Wrath. They were twelve when they named their semblances, and the names had apparently stuck. The downside was that it drained her aura a lot, and quickly, so use was sporadic and only when necessary.

The gunner seemed to be unconscious, but alive, despite the fall and the fifty calibre round. Apparently, it did indeed fire fifty calibre, and what he had seen was the bullet lighting up in golden power, giving it a lot more of a punch as well as explosive properties. She only used it on Grimm, and because she mistook him for a Nevermore, she had used it on him, accidentally.

The giant looked over to his partner, the burning cloth around his waist still unattended. He turned back and got into fighting stance, possibly to avenge his fallen comrade.

"He's Okay!" a voice shouted from the cliff. A teacher was standing on the steps, scroll in hand, observing the battlefield. 'He's just unconscious!"

The warrior seemed to ignore the teacher, rushing towards Luka. Rachel fired again, the bullet denting his armour, but failing to slow him. Luka jumped past the warrior, Travis slammed his axe into him as he passed, launching him into the tree-line, and into Belle. She ignited her staff and summoned a column of fire from the tip, roasting the warrior. She ran over to Luka, who had re-grouped in the centre of the make-shift arena with both Travis and Rachel.

After a few seconds of tense waiting, the warrior lurched out of the forest, his armour scorched and any and all fabric either singed, burnt or completely immolated, nothing was unharmed. He continued towards them, holding his hand out in front of him in a clenched fist. All members of the two teams raised their weapons, waiting for the giant to attack. He never did. He got two metres away and gestured with his other hand towards Luka.

Luka lowered his sword and held out his palm, allowing the giant to drop something into it. The Black King piece. The gunner suddenly appeared next to his comrade, bowing his head at the team.

"Well played." He conceded "I must admit, I didn't see that coming. You are free to pass." Then he turned to Rachel, still assuming that Travis was Luka's partner. "Do you have a piece?"

"Yes." Travis responded, presenting the king.

The gunner sighed, obviously sore over being duped. "Well done."

"Indeed. But I would ready myself if I was you. The woods are about to come to life in a very painful way. Oum have mercy." Luka stated, turning while sheathing his sword and deploying his bow, aiming at the woods. Understanding, everyone else also readied their respective weapons, slowly backing up towards the stairs. Seconds later, gunfire roared from the tree-line, warriors charged out and a hundred or so students who had been too afraid of a big gun and a good position now attempted to overwhelm the tired defenders.

"Run!" the gunner roared, laughing as he took up a position next to the arch, not bothering to climb back up, as he gunned down the forerunners. "We'll take them, and take a Relic for ourselves; you guys get up the hill!"

Luka waved his thanks as the armoured giant stood in front of the Arch, preventing others from following them up. For now. The four scrambled up the stairs. It was a precarious climb in the half light of the sun-set. The shadows and the occasional round that found them made for a difficult journey. As they reached the top, they saw more fighting. There were gunners and mages atop the hall and warriors below, fending off those who wished to enter. The funny thing was that they were wearing the Beacon uniform.

Luka spied Jaune hiding behind a half wall with a red-headed girl he didn't recognise. She was popping over the wall and taking pot-shots at the defenders, missing a lot. Luka ran and slid up to the wall, signalling for his new friends to take cover elsewhere.

"Jaune! What's going on here?" Luka yelled over the gunfire.

Jaune screamed in surprise, startling his partner as well, which fired off in a different direction than she was aiming for. A miss either way.

"Luka? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"The same thing you are, trying to get in. What's all this?"

"I assumed you'd be inside already, considering you're an awesome fighter and all that."

"I'm not that good. Besides, you haven't even seen me fight."

"Right. Anyway, the years above us decided to mess with us and camped above the hall. Apparently it happens every year to the initiates."

Luka heard the sound of fifty calibre rifles going off in unison, and saw Rachel and Ruby barraging the students atop the hall. Travis was firing his auto-cannon into the warriors at the gate, with little effect. Belle was ready, but the defenders were out of range.

"On my signal, get everyone to rush the hall. It's the only way now." Luka ordered, a plan formulating in his head. He gestured to Belle, who ran over to the wall. The redhead ran off towards better cover, leaving them to themselves.

"How? I'm no leader."

"Then scream as you run. That'll usually get people to follow you. Just raise your sword, yell your lungs out and run at them."

"Okay. Okay, I can do this. What's the signal?"

"You'll recognise it when you see it." Luka turned to Belle. "Get on my back, were going to clear that nest."

Belle nodded and climbed on. Luka readied his arm and fired his grapnel, preparing to run out into the field of fire when he heard a roar from behind him. The gunner from earlier was riding on the back of the giant with his mini-gun, screaming "COVERING FIRE!" A jade knight piece hanging from a cord around his neck, still wearing that maniacal grin.

Luka took the advantage and ran out into the fire, dodging the bullets and reeling in his grappling hook. He hit the wall with a jump and quickly ran up, vaulting the wall and drawing his sword, Belle igniting her staff and deploying her staff.

They went on a rampage, the students in the top having almost no melee abilities that could stop them, tired from fighting most of the day and surprised. After a minute of annihilating the defenders atop the hall, Luka pulled out his gun, clipped a flare into the revolver and fired it into the sky. He looked over the edge as Jaune suddenly rolled out from cover, screamed something he couldn't make out. Following immediately after was Travis and the armoured giant, who caught on. It only took 3 seconds for the rest of the cohort to join in, rushing the defenders while screaming a multitude of different war cries, if they weren't just yelling.

Luka smiled, nodded to Belle, and vaulted over the battlements, joining the fray. With the combined force of the initiates as well as a lack of fire support, the warriors were quickly overwhelmed. Jaune was suddenly raised up onto someone's shoulders as they chanted his name, marching into the hall to meet a surprised Goodwitch and an amused Ozpin.

* * *

"… Will Jaune Arc, Pyhrra Nikos, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren please come forward."

The team stood together on the podium, awaiting their new name.

"The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. You shall, from now on, be known as team Juniper (JNPR)."

There was a clapping transition, as usual.

"Will Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long please step forward."

They repeated the process.

"The four of you collected the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you shall be known as team Ruby (RWBY). Led by, Ruby Rose.

There was more clapping and Yang hugged Ruby.

"Will Luka, Belle Renard, Rachel Venator and Travis Miles please attend the stage."

They stepped up onto the stage.

"The four of you retrieved the Black King pieces. From here on out, you shall be known as team Liberator (LBTR). Led by, Luka."

More clapping. Yang cheered and slapped Luka on the back as he walked down the steps, embarrassing her new team, especially Ruby.

"Well done to all teams who made it. Looks like things are shaping up to be an… interesting year. Report to the admin to retrieve your Scrolls and the location of your dorms."

The teams all filed out of the room, eager to be off to bed after the difficult initiation.

Ozpin walked down and tapped Luka on the shoulder. They waited until the rest of the people had left the hall.

"Sir?" Luka asked

"Do you know why I selected you? Especially you?" he asked.

"Not exactly, but I have some ideas."

Ozpin gestured for him to elaborate.

"Either it's my Semblance, due to its rarity, or it's because I trained with Master Gilan."

"I see… Thank you Luka. I hope you ensure that I wasn't wrong in my decision."

"Of course sir."

Ozpin turned to leave when Luka spoke up again.

"Sir, do you know my parents? Apparently they attended Beacon."

Ozpin waited for a few seconds before replying.

"Yes, I do."

He then walked out, leaving Luka to his thoughts.


	6. Chapter 6

Luka awoke in his new bed. They had been assigned dorms the night before, after the team forming ceremony. He was happy to see that the blue haired bully from the initiation hadn't made it in, but unfortunately the tall one, Cardin Winchester, and his cadre had. They had been given the day off to recover after the long initiation, as well as to look around and get used to Beacon. Because he already had the grand tour, his team had decided to spend the day looking around, leaving him to sleep in.

They had decided to change their bedroom configuration, making bunk-beds out of their beds, an impractical amount of glue (Rachel) and ropes. Surprisingly, it was structurally sound, and held the combined weight of all four of the team rather well, let alone just one. Regardless, the two men remained on the bottom bunks and the girls took the top.

Luka was thinking about the events of last night. How Jaune had been held up by his peers in celebration, despite how Jaune insisted he wouldn't get far in Beacon. How all his friends at Beacon had been accepted. And mostly, about what Ozpin had said after the ceremony.

He had said _I do_, not _I did_. Does that mean they're still alive? _Or it could mean he doesn't know of their death._ How did they do at Beacon? _You could always ask._ Where did they go? Why did they leave? _Oh, not this again. Like moping about is going to change anything._

Luka got up, saddened by his train of thought. Unable to sleep any longer, he got dressed and left the dorm. The time on his scroll stated that it was 10:23, so breakfast was over and lunch wasn't yet ready. He wandered, unable to stay in one place with those thoughts running through his mind.

He repeated the questions over in his head, tossing about different ideas and theories, rejecting possibilities time and again, slowly becoming more and more depressed. Eventually, he couldn't take any more. He spun around and punched a tree as hard as possible. As he retracted his hand, he saw a large crater indented in the bark. The impact, luckily, hadn't damaged the tree itself.

"Are you okay?" a familiar voice asked tentatively. Behind him, with a look of concern on her face, was Ruby.

"What, me? I'm fine. Just thinking." He said, trying to brush off his incident as his aura kicked in, soothing the throbbing pain in his hand. He probably broke something.

"You sure? Because you seem a little, well, not okay." She stated, getting a closer look at the temporarily useless hand.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Thank you for asking, though."

"Okay then… So, what brings you out here?"

Luka looked around and saw that he was in one of the wooded areas that lay slightly north of the guest housing._ I walked that far?_

"Uh…" Luka hesitated, trying to think of a good reason as to why he'd be half a mile from everything else. "I was just out for a walk"

"Oh, cool! Mind if I join you?" Ruby asked, completely oblivious to Lukas' attempt to cover up his earlier sadness.

"Sure, why not?"

* * *

The forest was a surprisingly serene location. Only the light sound of birds filled the comfortable silence as the pair walked along the leaf covered path. The morning light filtered between the thin canopy. They hadn't talked for a while, the last discussion being about favourite foods and it appeared that Rubys' love for cookies was borderline obsessive.

After a few more minutes of silence, Ruby suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?"

Ruby smiled.

"I just realised that you never told me about your weapons."

Luka returned the smile.

"Well, I got this." He stated, pulling out his sword as he mimicked Ruby on the first day.

The fifty inch blade was straight as an arrow, ending in a pointed tip. The blade itself had runes carved into its surface. The hilt was made of a substance that gave of a gold sheen, but wasn't quite as glamorous as the metal itself. It had a diamond inset between where the crossbar met the blade and the grip, which was made of simple leather. It had a bone carving of a wolf head as its pommel.

"Oooh, I remember that. You used it during the Main hall siege didn't you?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, and before you ask, no it does not shoot lasers." He teased. "It reacts with my semblance, as well as a cleverly hidden Dust crystal, to do this."

The sword hummed slightly and lightning flickered down the length of the blade, arcing off into the earth below their feet. Ruby was practically fawning over the weapon at this point.

"What's its name?" she asked eagerly.

"It's called _Vox Lupus_. Apparently it's a family heirloom."

"Huh. What's it mean?"

"No Idea"

Ruby giggled a bit.

Luka pulled out his gun "Well, I also have this one"

"Ooh, what's that one's name?" Ruby asked, looking at the gold inlay on the barrel

'Uh, it doesn't have one. Well, it probably does, but I'm not yet aware of it."

"Oh."

"Yeah, I got it from my mentor, but he never told me what it was called."

"So it does have a name?"

"Probably."

Ruby seemed comforted by the thought.

"Next up is this." He pulled out his bow, deploying it and whipping out an arrow. "It's collapsible, so it's easier to take out and put away"

"Does that one have a name?"

"Definitely not, I only got it a bit over a week ago. I also don't have a name for this."

He fired his hook up into the sky, quickly reeling it back in before it hit anything.

"Why not?"

"I don't see the point. I know what they do and know how to use them. That's all that matters really."

"But don't names help explain what they are?"

"Exactly, and why give the enemy that advantage?"

"I see. Ah well, I'll think of names for them!"

Ruby skipped on ahead towards the exit to the forest, leaving Luka to catch up.

"Go ahead. If they're good, I might even use them."

* * *

As they walked back towards Beacon, Luka felt a familiar shiver down his spine. It was one of his many little quirks, this one happened whenever he felt like he was being watched. He had learned to trust it and listened around. It was quiet.

Too quiet.

He placed a hand on Rubys' shoulder and motioned for her to be quiet. She reached for Crescent Rose, but stopped before she deployed, waiting for the right time. Luka listened to his surroundings. The wind was blowing slightly, making the leaves rustle. When the wind stopped, most of the trees went silent, but the closest one to the field in which they were in stopped a few seconds late. Luka scanned the tree, only to find Yang and the Gunner from the other night awkwardly trying to re-position themselves as quietly as possible. Surprisingly, the gunner seemed to know a bit about silent movement. Unsurprisingly, Yang did not.

Luka relaxed and watched the duo as they tried to sneak up on them. Ruby followed his gaze and had to stop herself from laughing from the sight of her friend in such a compromising situation. After thirty seconds or so, Yang noticed that they were found, and collapsed onto the forest floor, dragging down her companion as she did so.

After a few good seconds of solid laughing, Ruby finally had enough air in her lungs to ask what they were doing.

"Personally, I was trying to get back at Wolfy for fooling me yesterday." The gunner said, as if this sort of thing happened every day.

"And I was making sure that Little Red Riding Hood wasn't gobbled up by the Big Bad Wolf." Yang smirked, happy with her pun.

Luka groaned and the Gunner cracked up laughing at the analogy. It was a story of a young girl who was attacked by a Beowolf, and a hunter came to save her.

"I dunno Blondie, I was just thinking, Slow Roast or Spit?" Luka wondered, his hand stroking his chin as if in deep thought.

"What are you talking about?" Ruby asked, confused and unaware of the running joke.

"Hmm… for someone as small as her, I'd say definitely slow roast. Keep as much meat on her bones as possible." Yang advised, copying Luka.

"Indeed, but the Spit does keep her original flavour, and she does look delicious." Luka smiled, fangs bared.

By this point, Ruby was visibly distressed. Then it hit her, and she walked up to Yang and punched her in the shoulder. "I HATE YOU!"

Everyone else cracked up laughing as Ruby stormed off.

"That is, by far, the best gag I've pulled on her in a while." Yang said, attempting to keep herself together as she stumbled towards the tree, using it to keep herself upright.

Luka walked over to the gunner, who was on the floor and clutching his stomach, and helped him upright again.

"Luka."

The gunner smirked. "Cole."

"Yang!" Yang shouted as she jumped in between the two men.

"I am painfully aware of that." Luka stated, clutching his sensitive ears as the ringing slowly went away.

Yang smiled and turned towards Beacon.

"Well, we should be far enough behind to avoid her wrath. Shall we?"

* * *

They were sitting together for Dinner, having almost missed lunch. Luka had spent the rest of the day reading in the library, after he had apologised to Ruby, who had accepted. Luka was sitting next to Belle to his left and Jaune to his right. Sequentially, on the left it went, from top to bottom: Rachel, Travis, Belle, Luka, Jaune and Pyhrra. On the right, it went Ruby, Wiess, Yang, Blake, Nora and Ren.

"… so then, this gigantic Death Stalker came out of nowhere!" Nora exclaimed.

"It was a juvenile." Ren corrected

"And then another one came out behind us!"

"It was an Ursa."

"I only had three grenades!"

"Only used three."

"We were surrounded, and the only way out was to fight!"

"We could have escaped. She chose to fight."

"So, Ren attacked the one behind me and I went after the big one!"

"That much is true."

"So, I fired my first grenade into the Death Stalkers head, but its armour was too thick! So I attacked from above, firing a grenade into the smaller one as I flew up. Ren cut off its tail, and I crushed its face with it!"

"Surprisingly, still true."

"Then we took their masks and sold them for two thousand Lien each!"

"That didn't happen."

Yang clapped. "An interesting tale. But you should hear the one about Ruby this afternoon."

"YANG!" Ruby yelled from across the table.

"sorry." Yang apologised sheepishly, obviously not sorry.

"What happened?" Jaune asked.

"Nothing, Yang's just teasing." Luka quickly interjected before Yang could elaborate. Ruby shot him a silent thanks before continuing to stare down her sister (Luka had only found out about their relationship recently.)

Jaune seemed satisfied by the answer and continued on with his meal.

"So… class starts tomorrow…" Rachel stated.

"Wow, did you figure that out all by yourself?" Travis shot at her.

"Ha! That's rich from the man who can't tie his shoelaces" Rachel shot back

"I can so! It's just that the laces on these shoes are so small, they're impossible!"

"Excuses, excuses."

"Will you two shut up?" Luka glared, staring at them until they apologised.

"Well, you seem to have your team under control." Jaune stated.

"Oh yes. They've recently learnt to respect the rules I've set in place.

"Rules?" Jaune looked confused.

"Rule 2: Don't wake Luka up before his alarm." Rachel recited. Belle visibly shuddered.

"I've seen waking up. That was not waking up, that was utter chaos." Travis mumbled.

Luka smiled and went back to his meal, unfazed by the curious and slightly scared looks he received from his dining partners.

"Well then… now we know, eh?" Jaune awkwardly tried to dispel the uncomfortable silence. Surprisingly, it worked. The teams shrugged off the feeling and went on with quiet chatter, interceded with the occasional laugh from either Yang or Nora, who were trying to out-story each other each tale getting more and more exaggerated, intense and unrealistic as they went on.

They were nearing the end of their meal, the quiet in the cafeteria was suddenly shattered with the sound of smashing plates and glass, conjoined with the surprised shout of a student. The group turned to see a young Faunus picking himself up off of the floor as Cardin and his lackeys walked off, laughing. Both Travis and Luka stood up, Luka slightly quicker. He put his hand on Travis' shoulder, pushing him back into his seat.

"Stand down, Travis." Luka ordered.

"Sir! I'm sorry but I can't just sit by as they get away with this!" Travis whispered loudly.

"They won't."

Suddenly, Cardin was thrown across the room. A large man shoved his lackeys out of the way, deliberately walking intimidatingly slowly towards him. The surprising thing was that he was Human. He picked the bully up by the lapels and roared into his ear.

"Next time." Luka said, patting his shoulder and resuming his seat, mumbling something else as he did so.

"Pardon?" Travis asked, angry. Luka waved him off with a simple 'nothing.'

* * *

During the walk back to the dorm, Travis seemed tense. He had his fist clenched the entire way back. About two doors away, he abruptly stopped and grabbed Luka's shoulder.

"We need to talk. Now." Then he looked up at the girls. "Alone."

Luka nodded at them and they continued towards their door, leaving the two men in the completely abandoned hallway.

"Now that we're alone, what did you n-" Luka began, before being cut off as Travis slammed him into the wall.

"What the fuck was that!?" Travis said, low and angry.

"What?" Luka replied calmly. This only served to get him slammed into the wall again.

"In the dining hall. I thought you were all about helping people!"

"I never said that"

"You did. Last night, we were talking about why we were here. You said you wanted to help people."

Luka thought back. The thoughts of people, events and memories all jumbled about until he found the memory.

"So I did."

"So, I'll repeat myself. What. The Fuck. Was that."

"Interfering would only serve to bring unwanted attention to ourselves, and the other guy seemed to have the situation under control."

"So that's it? You care more for your reputation than your kinsmen? What if there isn't a giant to stop him next time, huh? What happens then, do we just let it happen!?"

Luka shocked Travis by grabbing his lapels and launching off of the wall into the one on the other side, with Travis pinned underneath.

"If that is what you believe, then you are horribly mistaken" Luka growled darkly, his eyes bored into Travis, unblinking and unwavering. "I _do_ care. I care a lot. There was simply no point in getting into a situation that was handled. As for when Cardin commits his crimes when there is no-one else but me to act? Well, let's just say that he better pray to Oum that never happens."

Travis was stunned, unmoving as he witnessed his calm, calculating leader transform into the dark, cold warrior.

Luka let go of Travis and he slid onto the floor, far to shocked by the Wolf to stand.

"Do I make myself perfectly clear, Miles?" Travis nodded enthusiastically. "Good."

Luka then held out his hand, his eyes going from callus and apathetic to concerned. "So, we cool?"

Travis nodded as he accepted the hand, smiling. "Yeah, we're cool. Just remind me to never piss you off again."

"Vice versa. And for the record? I wanted to go up and deck the guy just as much as you did."

Travis chuckled slightly, reaching for their door. "Well, you certainly did a better job of hiding it."

Travis opened the door to bear witness to a completely naked Rachel, who had just finished in the shower as she dropped her towel accidentally. The two simply stared at each other before Luka reached out and grabbed the door handle.

"Tell us when you're done will you?" he asked, his head politely facing the opposite direction as he closed the door.

This seemed to snap Travis out of his trance, as he recoiled, blushing profusely.

"I… Wha… Bu… Oh my Oum." He stuttered, sliding down the wall opposite the door. "That was an accident, I swear."

Luka patted him on the back and slid down the wall to join him.

"I know, I know. You couldn't have known." He consoled. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke up again.

"Well, this night has been awkward." Travis nodded mutely, still bug-eyed.

Luka nudged his companion. "Not the way you imagined your first time, I assume?"

Travis punched him in the shoulder, laughing slightly. Luka joined in. after a bit, the laughter died away to leave a comfortable silence.

"How long does it take to get changed?" Travis thought out loud, checking his scroll.

"I assume that Belle was in the shower when we had out little awkward moment. She probably wants to get dressed in relative privacy as well." Travis nodded at Lukas' logic.

A minute later, Rachel exited the room, staring at the duo.

"We need to discuss a certain problem that has arisen within the dorm." She said, still blushing slightly.

"I agree completely. We must hold this meeting post-haste!" Travis agreed readily.

"Very well. All in favour of emergency assembly, raise your hand." All four raised their hands, Belle having poked her head out the door to see what was going on.

Luka stood up, sighing deeply. "Well, let's get this over with."

* * *

After an awkward, but productive session, it was decided that the bathroom would be used for both washing and changing, thus effectively destroying the chances of the problem ever happening again. Not long after the discussion, everything was practically back to normal. Travis and Rachel were arguing, Belle was reading, and Luka was typing something into his scroll. Not long after, it hit 10:00 and the small beep from their scrolls signalled curfew and lights out.

"Night guys." Rachel yawned, pouncing up into her bed. Luka replied in kind, having turned off the light as he walked back to his bed. Travis grunted and turned over so he was facing the wall, and Belle tapped lightly on the wall.

_She never speaks. I'm going to have to ask her about that._ Luka wondered, settling down for the night.

* * *

It was well after midnight, yet the city was a lot more rowdy that usual. The teenage Faunus stood upon one of the higher buildings in Vale, observing the many events of the night. There was a movie premier down on Main Street, some horror flick for teens, as well as a high speed police chase down in the outer districts. Someone was robbing a two story house in the northern suburbs. But, despite all the activity, what interested him most was an inconspicuous Bullhead flying lazily over the docks.

It didn't immediately attract attention, but if you watched for long enough, you could see the pilot flying in a path, not strictly enough to warrant attention, but enough to observe the surrounding area. This piqued the white haired wolf more than anything the night had to offer, so off he went. His outfit had changed since his last visit to Vale proper. Instead of just a white t-shirt and torn pants, he wore a black hoodie with dark blue jeans and dark grey sneakers. He wore his jagged sword, the blade swung lazily from his hip as he walked towards the docks.

When he arrived, he was pleased to see White fang members. He swiftly climbed up one of the many cargo cranes in the wharf. He saw the familiarly dressed soldiers, as well as some nicely dressed mobsters, patrolling a small section of the docks, and a high concentration of them surrounding a shipping container suspiciously placed in the centre of a large open space.

Smiling, he walked casually towards the congregation. He felt the eyes, and then the guns of guards trained on him as he entered the circle. A large stag came up to the wolf, wielding a baton, as his friends all aimed at the intruder.

"As a Faunus, I'm going to warn you. Leave now, or die." The Stag threatened.

The wolf laughed psychotically. "Adorable. I'd honestly like to see you try, it's been a while since I've had a good slaughter."

A few soldiers shuffled nervously as the Stag retreated back to the defensive line. He raised his hand. Fifty or so automatic rifles were trained on the Wolf, waiting for the signal to let loose.

"I'm giving you one more chance, leave now or die by our hand." The Stag said confidently, raising his own weapon with his free hand.

The wolf smirked and drew his blade.

The Stag gripped his fist and the frontal defensive line opened up, tearing the Faunus to shreds. Or at least they would have.

The wolf stood smiling as the dark energy field deployed and deflected the onslaught.

"Is that all?" he asked innocently, giving the stag puppy eyes.

The Commander then dropped his hand, pointing at the Faunus, screaming 'FIRE!" All weapons aimed at the intruder lit up as round after round flew into the shield in an attempt to destroy it.

When the guns stopped firing, out of ammunition, the intruder dropped the field, and smiled.

"And now?" He laughed, his voice slowly becoming more and more daemonic. He stared the White Fang commander in the eyes, his own glowing bright red. "It's my turn."


	7. Chapter 7

Roman was having, all in all, a pretty good day. He'd managed to get his hands on one and a half _tonnes_ of Dust, completely unprecedented. He'd managed to secure a deal with the White Fang, Cinder hadn't berated or put him down at him at all and he'd just been gifted a box of the extremely rare, hand rolled Mystralite speciality cigars. All he needed now was a bottle of scotch and the night off, and it would officially be the best day of his life.

Cinder and the White Fang division leader in vale, a Lizard named Leon (10 points for originality to the parents) were currently engaged in deep conversation. The kids, Emerald and Mercury, were off in the corner, probably making fun of the Faunus. Considering they were laughing and the only time they ever got along that well in public was when they were hating on something that wasn't their partner.

Roman was considering the possible backlash over lighting a cigar inside the container, their meeting place, when he heard gunshots. The lizard turned towards a cat, possibly a tiger, and nodded, then resumed his conversation, assuring them that there was probably an intruder and that it would be dealt with.

Seconds later, the second, larger volley reported from outside the container. After it stopped, the tiger pulled out his own gun, waiting for the all clear. It never came, and in its place was more gunfire and, more disturbingly, screaming. The guards all readied their weapons as Cinder signalled for the kids to join her. Roman gripped Melodic Cudgel tightly, the screams and the now sporadic gunfire frightening him. Not only was the White fang out there, but Junior's thugs. Despite the flak they receive, Junior's boys are actually pretty good. Or they were. Suddenly, there was an unearthly roar, a grenade detonating and more gunfire. And more screaming.

The White Fang burst out of the container, weapons ready. They were followed immediately by Cinder and the kids. He followed immediately afterwards.

The sight before them was enough to make him weak at the knees. Emerald hunched over, heaving, but resisting throwing up, with Mercury staring bug eyed and open mouthed. Sure they were used to death, but this wasn't just death. Scattered around them lying in a venerable ocean of blood were the remains of soldiers from both factions. The lucky ones had been stabbed, cut in half or decapitated. The unlucky, and unidentifiable, ones had been eviscerated, their respective body parts scattered all over the dockyard.

Though that wasn't what got Roman the most. He'd seen plenty of gore from his days as a Hunter. No, what got him the most was the teenage Faunus kneeling in the centre of the macabre scene, covered in blood and laughing psychotically. The Faunus was a wolf wearing a torn hoodie that ended at the elbow, with a ripped t-shirt underneath, tattered Jeans that stopped at the knee and went bare-foot. He was wielding a black jagged sword with multiple flesh hooks along its dark edge. It was obviously made for ripping, not slicing.

"HAHAHA! Oh, I haven't had that much fun in months! Thanks for the hunt, buck!" the monster laughed, patting the head of the White fang security sergeant, which had been impaled on one of Junior's thugs' swords. The Faunus then noticed his audience and went over to greet them, smiling.

"Oh hi there, this is quite convenient, I was about to go find you, but it appears you found me!"

"Who is it you seek?" Cinder asked, seemingly unfazed by the psychotic Wolf.

"Why, you of course! You're the leader of this little shindig, aren't you?" Cinder nodded in reply. "Awesome! So, I need to ask you a question."

Cinder nodded once more, the White Fang stared at her, horrified that she would entertain such company.

"Can I join you?"

Cinder considered for a bit, then looked around. "You are most certainly powerful, so why not? But I must ask, why got to the trouble of killing all these people if you only wanted to join us?"

The wolf smiled. "Oh, this? This is my resume!"

Leon seemed to snap out of his shock, and glared angrily at Cinder. "If you're seriously going to take on this... this, Monster! Then you can consider the White Fang your enemy!"

Cinder shrugged, and turned back to her new subordinate.

"Deal with these animals, will you?" she asked, pointing at the White Fang soldiers.

The Faunus seemed to teleport into Leon, his sword driving straight through his stomach. The wolf then twisted the sword and tore it back out, dragging both flesh and internal organs with the cruel blade.

"With Pleasure."

What was left of Junior's men quickly ran out, congregating behind Roman, attempting to identify themselves as friendly. In the meantime, the wolf went on a rampage, slaughtering his brethren, cutting them down left and right. He left one man standing, the Tiger.

The Faunus Commander wasn't scared at all. If anything, he was infuriated with his kinsman's actions. He drew a massive chainsaw great-sword, the weapon of a White Fang shock trooper. The Wolf smiled, and rushed the commander, jumping out of the way at the last second.

This twisted game continued for a few more seconds until the Wolf ducked under the sword and jumped up on top of his shoulders, driving his blade through his neck, messily decapitating him as he dragged it back out.

"Aww, it's broken." He sighed sadly, turning back to Cinder, who nodded, impressed. This garnered the horror of almost everyone else, the only one who didn't react was Emerald, who had passed out.

"What the hell was that? Where are we going to get our White Fang support now?" Roman roared, Livid.

"I know a White Fang Special Operations group around here, who would be more than happy to step up to the challenge." Cinder replied calmly, turning towards the master thief. "Also, would you be a dear and take our new friend back to your hideout and get him cleaned up? I'm sure he's had a long night and would like nothing more than to relax." Roman cursed and looked at the teen. This night just went from great to stock standard awful. When Cinder gave an order, you didn't refuse it. Especially if you valued your life.

"Of course. I would like nothing more than to help this animal with his endeavours." Roman replied sarcastically.

"And, if you cut the attitude, you can have the rest of the night to yourself." Cinder offered.

"Well, in that case, it would be my pleasure. Come along, my new friend, let's go introduce you to the gang." Roman sincerely offered, pointing to a bullhead, which was covered in drying blood, to take them back to his hideout.

The Wolf skipped happily over to the vehicle, climbing in with Roman and a few nervous thugs. The patrolling bullhead landed to take Cinder and the kids back to wherever they went. Maybe this night wouldn't be too bad after all.

* * *

Roman was pissed. Not only had Cinder dumped the responsibility of the psycho on him, but he was a pain in the ass. On the way back, he had opened the side door, just to see where they were going, wouldn't shut up about the many things he had killed and literally scared the shit out of one of the guards, so the smell was awful.

They arrived to find Cinder already there, which was surprising as she would have had to have dropped off the kids at their own safe house and then arrived here in the time it had taken him to simply go from the docks to the hideout. But Roman knew better than to argue logic with her, as the rules of reality simply seemed to walk out of every room she entered. They were certainly wiser than he was.

When they landed, he told the Guards to escort both the wolf and themselves to go get cleaned up as he went to talk with Cinder.

"Miss Fall. As grateful as I am for the gift of such a 'valuable asset' as he, but he'll ruin my operation!" Roman shouted.

"Oh? Can't you handle him, Roman?"

"Quite frankly, no. I'm a thief, I steal. I don't mass murder."

"You certainly didn't hesitate when that police officer found you."

"Sure, I take out the occasional idiot that stumbles into one of my operations. What I don't do is go out of my way to kill innocents."

Cinder laughed slightly. Not in a good way.

"Oh Roman, you can be quite funny sometimes." _I doubt that's her sense of humour laughing_ "But I was never planning on giving him to you. I know your M.O., and such an asset would be wasted on you. No, he will work under my command."

Roman sighed with relief.

"That said, there may be a confliction of interest if I take him aboard as we are now, so I'm transferring Neo over to you."

"What, the multi-coloured mute? Isn't she still injured?" Roman inquired.

"It's either her, or the 'valuable asset', as you so eloquently put it." Cinder offered.

He'd worked with Neo before, hell, she was with him the night she underestimated some Hunter in training and got herself damaged. She was stealthy and small, so she worked well as the extra muscle he needed sometimes. She was skilled, most certainly, but a bit bloodthirsty for Romans tastes. That said, she was preferable over the psychotic wolf.

Roman shrugged. "I'll take her. Hopefully she's learnt her lesson from the last job and actually takes her role seriously."

Cinder smiled evilly. "Trust me, she has. I'll transfer her over to your unit, effective tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll take my new warrior and head back to command. I have no doubt he'll want to rest before we send him out into the wild."

The wolf appeared beside her, startling Roman. And only Roman.

He was clean and had found himself new clothes. His style was… questionable, but at least it wasn't covered in blood. He wore white, loose fitting cotton pants and a white, undone straightjacket, complete with leather and iron buckles. He also had the horrible sword he wielded strapped to his belt, a clip keeping the black blade in place so as to prevent the hooks getting caught in a sheath as well as easy access.

Cinder put a hand on his back and guided him towards the waiting bullhead.

"I expect you to keep up the good work, Roman." Cinder shot behind her as she climbed up into the craft. "Oh, and expect company really soon."

When the Bullhead had left, Roman wandered over to his car, a white Roles Royce Phantom, eager to get back to his apartment. _There is no way in hell am I working tonight after that._ He thought to himself, speeding out of the warehouse and off towards central Vale.

* * *

The rest of the night had turned out to be quite relaxing. Junior was kind enough to 'donate' a bottle of scotch for his friend, not bothering to hear the details of the operation. He had one of his new cigars and was tempted to have another when it was done. They were as good as he had hoped. After getting drunk and smoking the beautiful cigar, he had slept for a solid 8 hours. The longest he had in months. And now, after a quick commute back to the hideout, he was wishing the night never ended. Business was incredibly slow. He had received a company e-mail from Cinder that told his forces to take the day off, after the one and a half tonne haul from a Schnee company freighter, so hardly any of his own men had shown up, let alone Juniors. He would have taken the day off, but he had been told to come in, again by Cinder, to greet the 'New and Improved Neopolitan'.

Roman was about to call it quits when there was a call from the upper gantry, and the roof slid open. The craft that flew in surprised him the most. It was a White Fang Bullhead.

Roman ran up the stairs to the landing pad to 'meet' the Faunus, expecting the worst. He gripped Melodic Cudgel and awaited the doors opening, three of his men beside him, guns ready. He got impatient and ripped open the door, shocked to see Cinder within the craft. She exited, followed by Neo and a tall Faunus he had never met, but was obviously White Fang.

"Roman, I'd like you to meet your new business partners, the White Fang." Cinder introduced, smirking. The Faunus grunted, turning and slamming the door to the craft. Soldiers jumped out and lined up on the landing pad. Neo watched him, smirking. She scratched her neck lightly and accidentally moved her necklaces to reveal a livid scar running down her throat.

Roman looked away from the wound and back to his boss.

"Well, you certainly work fast. But I'm going to need a lot more men than this if I want to get anything done."

"Rest assured, you'll get them. Isn't that right, Adam?"

The Faunus looked at Roman, his mask not only hiding his eyes, but revealing his rank as a Special Operations Operative. "They'll be here." He replied curtly.

Roman looked between the two Ego's that stood before him. The nigh untouchable Cinder Fall, and the White Fang SpecOps Commando. He knew then that last night was probably the last night he'd have to relax.

"Any questions?" Cinder asked mockingly. "No? Good. You'll have a week to get accustomed to your new operatives, then it's back to what you do best. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Miss Fall." Roman replied.

Cinder smirked and stepped back inside the bullhead, which the Faunus, Adam, had already entered.

Roman looked around at his new soldiers as the Bullhead took off, nearly blowing off his hat.

"Alright. I want you all to go assemble your buddies and meet back here at 10:00 tomorrow. All late comers will have their pay docked and will not be participating in raids. Now, off with you, I have tasks that need completing and not enough time to do it all in." Roman roared at the Faunus. "And don't you give me that look, Neo. You have no right nor the means to say anything." He shot at his smirking subordinate. "Dismissed."

_That certainly toned her down a notch. _Roman thought to himself as he watched the girls' face grow incredibly dark. She stormed off to the training room, presumably to let off some steam.

Roman walked down the gantry and over to his desk. An updated map of Vale was present on its mahogany surface. His contacts within the Vale PD kept him updated as to the most secure areas, so he could plan around it. The Vale PD had almost every dust shop in town locked down and the ones that weren't had been crossed out, the words 'White Fang' above the location, marking them as taken. Roman looked at the massive shipping containers filled with dust. _It wouldn't be a problem if we left it for a week or so…_ he thought.

He was contemplating what to do when a small oriental girl dressed in a red traditional Chinese vest that had a golden dragon curling down her back. She also wore black stockings and black slippers. She had black, pixie cut hair and emerald green eyes with a hint of blue around the inner rim to her pupils. She walked over to his desk and dumped paperwork onto it, visibly nervous. Her outfit marked her as one of his recruits, as his own personal forces didn't wear a uniform.

She was about to leave when Roman stopped her. "Hey, you. Yeah, the girl. What's your name?"

"Uh.. It's June, sir." She replied awkwardly.

"Well June, do you know what we could possibly do with fifty tonnes of Dust?"

"I didn't know we had that much, sir."

"We don't. Yet. But we will. So, your answer?"

"Uh… ammunition? We could use it in weapons?" she answered honestly.

"Hmm. Stay right there." He muttered, turning back to his map.

There were a few weapons stores out of the PDs' patrols paths, and apparently a shipment from Vacuo had recently arrived. He whipped back around, a plan forming in his head.

"Well, June. We have work to do. Round up all of my men, but leave Neo, we don't need her tonight." He ordered, smiling evilly at the girl.

"Sir?"

"We're going shopping."


	8. Chapter 8

Luka was trapped, to say the least. He was stuck in a massive cave filled with treasure, the gold and gems illuminating the room as light from a massive hole in the cave roof reflected the valuables onto the walls, a singular, stone path hewn from the rock around it led down towards a massive arena, again made of stone, which backed onto the cave wall. There was a door in the side of the rock, where he presumed his escape from his underground prison would be complete. The only thing stopping him was a massive, beautiful and considerably deadly Dragon. She was about 200 metres from head to tail, with a three hundred metre wingspan. Her scales shone a lustrous purple sheen that mesmerised you if you looked at them for too long. Her eyes were a lovely Violet, and when she entered a humanoid form, as all Dragons could do according to her, she was drop dead beautiful. Or, more accurately, beautiful or drop dead (long story).

All In all, she was a pain in the ass.

She always gave him three options:

1\. Live in the cave with her for all Eternity.

2\. Fight her and win. Therefore breaking the curse as he left the prison.

3\. Fight her and lose, and therefore reset the trial, so he had to face her again.

He didn't quite understand the reasons behind it, but he knew it happened almost every night. Once, he tried to wait it out, simply admiring the dragon. Even talking to her for a while. It didn't work, and when the time came, he was back where he started every time. He speculated that option one would keep him locked in a coma, whereas option 2 would prevent the nightmare from ever returning. He knew option three led to it happening over and over again, and that stalling did the exact same thing. She was safe (and sometimes, fun) to talk to without initiating option 1, but it didn't help his immediate problem.

Fighting her was hard, but not impossible. He had come close to slaying her a couple of times, and she had given him a few nights off as a reward. But he always returned eventually. Staying up all night didn't help, as it just made your more tired for the next night, which kept the battle going for longer. Or repeated it, depending how fast he died.

When he did finally die, usually he went to a place Luka called Limbo, as it was an accurate description of the black expanse he found himself trapped in.

Tonight was no exception. He started, awakening upon an ornate stone altar, inset with rubies and single amethyst directly in the centre. A massive stone carving of a wolf head loomed over him as he got up, as if watching him leave every night.

He wore clothes quite close to his usual style, but still rather strange. He wore a black trench coat that looked a lot like his usual attire, except it was lined with golden cord, and was regal red inside, which was shown as the lapels were flipped over a dark metal cuirass, which had thin gold lines that formed a tree with two wolves howling at it, completely identical and symmetrical. The trench coat was cut away at the waist, but still progressively ended up behind his knees at the back. His pants were plain black, but were more like formal ware than his usual Cargos, and his boots were leather combat boots with metal plates over his feet and upon his shins. All In all, he looked a lot more regal than usual.

His right arm was covered in the trench coat arm, that was rolled up and held with a thin strip of golden cloth at his elbow, and he wore a fingerless glove made a synthetic material, like cotton that was immune to fire. It also allowed him better grip on both his sword and the Dragon. His left arm was completely covered in the same dark metal, capped either side with a 3 tiered pauldron, which was rectangular, the parts that came over his shoulder tapering off into a point, with the part next to his face siding up at the middle of his collar bone, coming up to the equivalent height of his top lip. The metal gauntlet, if he pressed a small rune atop the gauntlet, released claws that came from the top of his hand and over his fingers.

Within the nightmare, he retained _Vox Lupus_, which he wore on his belt on the left side instead of over his shoulder, but that was his only other non-biological weapon. He found that within the cave, he could use multiple different semblances that weren't his standard electricity. This came in the form of fire, ice, teleportation and creating shadows of himself to fool the Dragon. And all the semblances he could use were either purple or gave off a purplish smoke effect, and a lot more powerful than he expected that they should be.

As he exited his small cave into what he called 'The Vault', the treasure chamber, he smelt the familiar scent of wood smoke. Personally, he loved the scent, but it also signalled a presence that didn't bode well for him. He carefully stalked down the staircase towards 'The Arena', where his draconic keeper awaited him.

She was in human form tonight. She wore beautiful black and royal purple dress that accentuated her curves and her ample bust. The dress looked to be made of black silk with purple flame patterns that leapt up from the tail of her dress up to her waist. She wore a black corset and a small silver crystalline tiara with a large amethyst inset as the centre piece. A silver wolf head pendant hung from a similarly coloured chain that hung from her neck. She was seated on a massive bed with a similar colour design and pattern, with purple flames rising up from the foot of the bed. There was also a large buffet table with a massive selection of assorted food upon its surface.

When she noticed his presence, she smiled and motioned for him to join her as she walked over to the table, summoning two grand seats next to each other in front of the massive buffet. She snapped her fingers and two plates loaded themselves with food and hovered next to the chairs. Two glasses of red wine rushed over seconds later. Luka took a seat and the glass, which dropped into his hand. The two plates rushed over to the Dragon as she sat down, and the glass of wine positioned itself in her hand before becoming inanimate once more.

"Welcome home, dear." She said innocently, delicately taking a leg of chicken and devouring it. Over the years, it had become apparent that, even in human form, she had the appetite, and the stomach, of a dragon.

Luka sank lower into the seat, sighing heavily. "I'm back."

She giggled slightly. She knew full well he didn't want to be here, and apparently loved to tease him about it.

"So, how was your day?"

Luka talked with her for a while. It was either that, or get annihilated and spend the rest of the night in limbo, which was understandably boring. It also appeared that she remembered their previous encounters, so she remembered his name, and everything he had told her about himself. It was useful when he could get into the Arena without being roasted on sight.

She was nice company. She was respectful, quiet when he talked, softly spoken and interesting. She had, if the dream was to be believed, lived for eons. And being alive for a long time meant she always had something interesting to teach him. She also had a perfect memory, so she reminisced with perfect clarity, and remembered which stories she had already told.

She also hated killing him, apparently. Though she was pretty determined to do exactly that for someone who supposedly didn't want to kill him.

She also refused to give him her name until he had defeated her, which made conversation slightly awkward. She knew his, even though he'd never told her what it was.

After she finished eating, which was slower in her human form, she stood up and stretched.

"So, you want to, you know, do it?" she whispered in his ear suggestively.

"Is there any point tonight?" he asked

"Hmm…. Nope!" she shouted, laughing slightly.

Luka sighed slightly and stood up, pulling out his sword and standing ready.

"Let's get this over with."

She pouted and walked over to him, placing her hand on his right shoulder.

"You sure? We could just talk for its duration again. I like our chats."

"As much as I would love to sit here and talk, I must be off. My team needs me now." Luka replied grimly.

She turned and walked to the other end of the arena, not bothering to reply.

As soon as she had turned to face him again, she was enveloped in shadows, which progressively grew larger as she transformed, until the massive Dragon stood before him. She regarded him with concern, as if giving him one last chance to forfeit. He summoned purple flame in his left hand, refusing the offer.

She was impossible to defeat without assistance, but the Arena was filled with it. There were twelve braziers atop the 12 massive decorative columns. When all were lit with Hellfire, what he called his evil looking fire semblance, she lost some of her power, as well as the ability to breathe fire. There was also a pool of Lava in the centre of the Arena that opened when all the braziers were lit. If he covered it with Hellfrost, his ice ability, then she moved much slower, and lost more of her power.

Unfortunately, even when he used these advantages, she still was more powerful than he could handle. He theorized that there was a third stage, as a massive metal ball lowered through the roof after the lava pool was frozen over. It was obviously conductive, but shocking it with his lightning seemed to do nothing.

Her powered also wavered. Sometimes she was weak, and others, like tonight, she was too powerful for him to even bother. Weirdly enough, she told him when that was, so he knew when fighting seriously was worth it.

Tonight, he wasn't going to bother, but he wanted to try something.

She immediately attempted to immolate him and he dived out of the way, retaliating by teleporting onto her back, swinging at her wings with his sword. It was deflected with a small spark, the metal-like scales immune to the half-hearted blow. She jumped up into the air, bucking him off, and tried to fry him once more. He teleported again and left a clone running at her, head on. She dispelled the shadow easily, but the fire didn't show who it was. He teleported onto her head and rammed his claw, which seemed to overcome magical barriers, straight into her eye, blinding her left side. As he ripped out the optic nerve, she let out a high-pitched scream, deafening him. A sense for a sense. He dived over her nose as she blew fire into the air and clawed the other eye, blinding her completely.

She swatted at her face, attempting to crush him. He teleported underneath her, which would usually get him crushed, but she seemed to be in too much pain to notice his stealthy approach. He smiled and used an ability he had been holding on to for a while. Luka's semblance could be amped up for a short period of time. Using it was dangerous, so he only used it when necessary. He called it Hyper Charge.

Now, with more semblances and a seemingly limitless supply of Aura, he used it once more in an ability he called Over Charge. Once activated, he launched himself up into her soft stomach, ripping it open with his sword, avoiding the boiling dragons' blood and the intestines that would trip him up. His blade also took on the effects of Over Charge, the purple lighting lancing off of the blade's surface and into the Dragon with enough power to overload the cores of fifty in-active power plants.

It would probably sting a bit.

She roared once more, re-deafening his slowly recovering ears. Her right eye had recovered and her left was regenerating, her stomach sewing itself back up with a dark red light, the black blood staining the otherwise cream coloured stomach.

She slashed at him, to which he teleported away from. Microseconds after her gleaming talons had passed by where he had just been, a plume of fire erupted from around the area, burning him, if he had dodged instead of teleported.

He smirked and launched from the roof, which he had teleported to, straight at her back. He started spinning, _Vox Lupus_ out in front of him. When he hit her back, the velocity of his spinning ripped her scales off, the electrical blade quickly prising the perfect amethyst hearts onto the floor. He continued to shred her hide, digging in towards her heart. He was suddenly launched from the hole, a glyph suddenly spawning and activating, preventing his access. She turned to face him and swung her claw at him. Luka tried to avoid it by dodging, the glyph locking down his teleportation abilities, but failed. The claws raked along his chest as blood spurted out onto the floor, flowing freely. His Aura activated and clogged the flow, preventing too much blood loss.

She then summoned another glyph, which shut down his Aura. The blood flowed freely once more, and _Vox Lupus_ de-activated, becoming simply a sword.

He had a minute, tops, to end the fight before he bled out.

He ran towards the Dragon, who smirked and tried to fry him. He jumped into the flames to his doom.

Somehow, he survived, and his wound had been cauterised. He smirked and held up his hand, signalling his surrender. _It worked!_

She accepted his surrender with a look of surprise, and crushed him underneath her foot. She had taught him that a quick death was the only reason you should surrender to a Dragon.

* * *

As he floated in the great, black expanse of his temporary prison, he summoned up a large darkened leather-bound tome. He had found that when he was in Limbo, he could create things with sheer will alone. The more you summoned an item, or something like it, the easier it became. He summoned a quill, thinking it appropriate for the aged looking parchment before him, opened the tome and wrote in his new findings. It was called the Codex of Draconic Law. Whether or not his imagination came up with the name, or if it was pre-made, he did not know for certain, but he did know that he wasn't the only one who had written in it.

Over 300 pages were filled with different information on the dragon. The image of her on the front page had been erased, drawn over and refined over the years, to the point of the paper being entirely replaced (The marks from a tear were stained upon the bottom, where it had been torn out and then replaced in the same place. He had tried with the back page.) The image was undeniably the Dragon he had faced, both her draconic and her human forms were documented, in detail and colour.

The strange thing was that the script in the book was different colours and thicknesses, but they were all the exact same handwriting. Different names were signed on the second page, all in the exact same not quite cursive script. He had found a few names repeated themselves. Mostly last names. The most prominent were Ironbark, Drake and Lupa. The most repeated first names seemed to be Bjorn, Jayce and Luke, or variations of such. His own signature had joined them long ago. The name in the very centre was badly faded and smudged, with only the first letter L and the last name of Lupa legible. Next to it was a drawing of a wolf head. The Image looked more as if it were an Icon, or a crest, rather than a failed attempt to replicate the animal itself.

Luka flicked through the pages, finding the part where one of his predecessors had written about Dragon fire, and how it could be used to help. The information talked about how Dragon fire not only burned, but reacted with a person's Aura and caused negative, harmful and often fatal effects. It also stated that if someone's aura was removed, blocked or had been recently, then they could use the Dragon fire to cauterise a wound. Luka ticked the top of the page, his research correlating with the Author. Multiple ticks and crosses were obvious throughout the book, with his predecessors testing their predecessors' theories, either proving or debasing them. He then flicked through to the back page where he was drawing a detailed image of _Vox Lupus_. He was almost complete, but he never had enough time to work on it properly, so it was a work in progress.

He worked hard for a few good minutes until a familiar beeping sound interrupted. The darkness was then pierced by a bright light. He closed the book and waited until the light consumed the landscape, liberating him from his prison.

* * *

He awoke to the irritating, but necessary sound of his alarm. Rachel and Travis were both awake, with Rachel in her pyjamas and Travis already in his uniform. They both looked at him fearfully, not wanting a repeat of the day before. Luka simply smiled, collected his towel and uniform as he walked towards the bathroom. He could hear the sighs of relief as he closed the door without incident.

When he had finished, he walked out in his uniform, receiving a wolf whistle from Rachel, who then received a punch in the arm from Belle, who had awoken.

"What?" Rachel cried indignantly. "He looks sexy in black."

Belle face-palmed and walked into the bathroom, earning a death glare from Rachel, who had obviously been waiting for a while.

She sat on Travis' bed, defeated and not bothering to climb back up to her own bunk.

Luka collected his books and slid them into a standard Beacon black and red satchel which he wore from his left shoulder so it came over his right hip. Travis had opted for a backpack instead, as had Rachel. Belle hadn't unpacked hers yet, so no-one except her and the quartermaster, and probably Ozpin, knew what she was using.

"First day, eh?" Travis thought aloud after a few minutes.

Rachel was about to shoot one of the many retorts she probably thought of when Luka held up his hand, silencing her before she could speak. He shook his head and let the matter drop.

Belle exited the bathroom, throwing her towel over the railing before moving toward her cupboard, probably to get her supplies.

"Yes, First day." Luka repeated, pulling his scroll from his pocket. "Our first class is Grimm studies with… Professor Port…" Luka shuddered, remembering one of the lectures he had sat through during his time as a guest for those students who had to attend make up classes. "Anyway, it starts at 9:00, and we all have it. After that, it's combat training with Goodwitch, all of us attending, and last for the day, after lunch, is history with Oobleck. After that, I have Team Management with Ozpin, and you guys get the rest of the day off."

Rachel punched the air before snatching her towel and dashing into the bathroom, throwing a 'suck it' behind her.

Belle giggled slightly and Travis patted his shoulder.

"Tough break, my lord. I'm sure you'll do fine." He consoled.

"Travis, what have I said about titles?"

"Sorry. But it just seems wrong not to."

"Well, to me, it seems wrong for you to."

"Could I at least call you 'Sir'?"

Luka sighed. "If you must."

"Thankyou, sir."

Rachel popped out from behind the door, blushing.

"It would appear that, in my haste, I have forgotten my uniform." She stated coolly, growing redder as she spoke.

Belle face-palmed again and dove into Rachel's wardrobe, collecting the uniform and a few other essentials before handing it to the cowering figure of Rachel.

"Don't make it a habit." Travis shot at her. She sneered and closed the door.

Luka pulled his blade and a cleaning kit from the cupboard, laying it out on the bed. He pressed the diamond and a small hiss emanated from the pommel. It extended out, revealing a dull light blue crystal. Luka prised it from its place and put it in a small mortar, crushing it and then mixing it with a white paste. Belle looked at the process with fascination, and Travis with horror, knowing what happened when a charged dust crystal was broken. That horror turned into confusion when they didn't explode.

Luka mixed the paste with a liquid, took a rag and dipped it in his new concoction. He then wiped the blade, cleaning chips of dried Grimm blood that he didn't quite get from its edge. Belle tapped his shoulder and motioned to the liquid in the trestle.

"What is it?" he asked for her. She nodded. "It's a combination of a depleted dust crystal, in this case, an energy crystal, some methanol and toothpaste. The combination is really good for cleaning stains off of metal, things like blood or rust. Don't ask why, it just works."

"Where did you learn that?" Travis asked.

_The Codex_. "My mentor taught me. I never really asked how it worked, or where he learnt it." Luka replied.

"Interesting."

After thoroughly cleaning his blade, he pulled another crystal out of the kit and inserted it in the holder. He pushed it back in with a barely audible _click_.

Seconds after he replaced his kit and weapon, Rachel exited the bathroom, a cloud of steam following her.

Luka walked over to the door and opened it, gesturing outside.

"Well, now that we're all accounted for, shall we?"


	9. Chapter 9

Teams LBTR, RWBY and JNPR all walked out onto the bright sunny field together, moving towards the arena that was to be used for combat training with Goodwitch. They were already in full armour and held their weapons, either sheathed or de-activated, prepared for what was to come.

As the rest of the cohort entered the arena, Goodwitch started.

"Welcome to Combat Training, students. As you all know, I am professor Goodwitch. Today will not be an introductory lesson, as we all obviously know what fighting is. So, put simply, I'm going to pair you up with someone in the same general area who isn't from your team and make you fight. Everyone will fight at the same time, due to time restraints, so check your scrolls to see who your sparring partner will be."

The teams checked their scrolls and saw their partners. It was Ruby versing Nora, Jaune versing Yang, Belle and Blake, Phyrra against Travis, Weiss against Rachel and Luka versus Ren.

Ruby walked up to Nora and smiled, the Red-headed berserker returning the sentiment. Yang walked over to Jaune and put her arm around his shoulder, smiling menacingly. Belle and Blake simply bowed to each other and then stared, both attempting to un-nerve the other. Phyrra and Travis clasped their hands together, giving each other a firm handshake. Ren smiled at Luka, who returned the grin just as much. Neither smile reached the eyes. Both fighters were immediately analysing their opponent, looking for any obvious strengths and weaknesses.

"Are the participants ready?" Goodwitch asked. She didn't wait for an answer. "Start!"

* * *

Ruby and Nora immediately deployed their weapons and charged, clashing together in a blur of red, orange and pink. Ruby disengaged and swung her scythe around to fire, only to find herself face to face with a ridiculous emoticon spray-painted onto the front of one of Nora's grenades. Ruby fired randomly and evaded the bomb, re-acquainted herself with reality and fired at Nora once more. The Valkyrie herself didn't wait for Ruby to recover and immediately charged the Reaper, firing a grenade as she sailed over another battle, using her momentum and another grenade to slam into where Ruby was. The hooded girl barely escaped the Warhammer, mistiming her shots slightly and nearly costing her the match. The area of effect damage from the extra firepower knocked her away, severely damaging her already weakened aura.

Ruby decided it was time to go on the offensive. She ran up to Jaune, who was barely surviving the Blonde Brawlers assault, kicked off (And fired a round into) his shield and launched herself up, too high for Nora's grenades to effectively hit her, and rained down on her unsuspecting opponent, who had lost her in the flurry of chaos and rose petals. Nora didn't escape the hail, but did fire her own shots into the sky, attempting to hit the red reaper. Most were destroyed in the metal rain, and the others flew clear of Ruby.

The scythe wielder fell onto her defeated opponent, helping her up and then supported her as they walked back to the safe zone. To her surprise, Nora was laughing.

* * *

As soon as Goodwitch said 'start', Jaune knew he was doomed. He only just deployed his shield when the first augmented fist collided with it. The rest of the time was spent with him hiding behind it as Yang lazily pummelled him into the dirt. _Please Oum, help me!_ Jaune pleaded to the heavens as Yang winded up for a haymaker, when suddenly, as if the gods had answered his plea, Ruby collided with his shield, numbing his arm completely and knocked him out of the fists' path. Yang lost her balance, expecting to find Jaune underneath her fiery grip, but found air instead.

Jaune may have been weak, but he wasn't stupid, and he knew an opportunity when it came. Abandoning his useless shield, he charged the brawler and hacked at her repeatedly. He got a few hits in before another metal encased missile hit him, except this time there was no shield to deflect the fist, and the Yang got him square in the chest, sending him flying into another participant. As soon as he hit the student, the sound of a very large rifle resounded in his ear as a massive projectile sailed over his head. He got up to see that he had hit Weiss.

"Uh, hi there, snow angel…" he said awkwardly. She huffed and threw him off, immediately returning to her own battle.

As soon as the white fencer was clear, a dark shadow descended over Jaune. He looked up to see the grinning figure of Yang, her fists alight. She only winked at him before jumping up into the air and falling on top of him. There was a flash of pink and an explosion, and then a large, heavy object landed on him. Jaune opened his eyes to find Yang, unconscious, and sprawled on top of him.

"Uh, does this mean I win?" Jaune asked himself aloud.

There was a loud sigh from his left and he turned to see Goodwitch flanked by two medics

"Yes, mister Arc, it means you win by default."

* * *

Belle immediately activated her staff, the crackling sound of electricity heralding the sparks that ignited the head with a wreath of flames. Blake pulled out her weapon and lashed the ribbon around a tree, effectively sling-shotting herself around and straight back at the fox. Belle summoned multiple glyphs that increased her own speed as she activated the blade set in the bottom, swinging at the cat as Blake swung her own weapon. They clashed and flew past each other, Belle using the head of her staff to leave a trail of fire that Blake flew into. The cat, now thoroughly singed, rolled along the floor before quickly recovering and firing her gun at Belle, who was now out of staff range.

Belle tried to deflect the bullets, but the thin staff just didn't do the job. She summoned another glyph and launched herself at the cat, who stopped firing and folded out her katana, running at the fox for another clash. Just before they hit, Belle summoned another glyph and dashed to the side, a plume of fire appearing where she had been only seconds earlier, burning Blake once more. Blake dashed out of staff range and switched her weapon back into its gun form, pelting the fox with a hail of bullets. Belle jumped up into the sky, right into the path of one of Nora's grenades.

She snatched the bomb and threw it at Blake, following it down with yet another glyph. Blake shot the bomb which created a cloud of pink smoke, obscuring the fox. She deployed her katana just in time for the mage to fly out of the smoke and directly into her, the staff head and the katana sparking. Belle then concentrated on the sparks, pouring so much magical power into the slight flame that it detonated in their faces. She landed to find her target disappear in a puff of smoke, and the real Blake on her knees, panting at the exertion. They were about to engage each other one more when a high-vis vest wearing 3rd year blew a whistle and waved them down, telling them that the match was undecided, but over.

They both staggered over to each other and shook hands, before supporting each other with their arms as they travelled over to the safe zone where, Ruby, Nora, Jaune and an unconscious Yang awaited them

* * *

Unlike most fights, Pyhrra started off slowly, observing the towering bull as he lazily twirled his axe, as if he wasn't worried about the fight what so ever. After she was satisfied that she could win based on the intelligence she had gathered, she used her semblance to speed up the axe, causing him to fumble for a bit until he regained control. This time, however, he didn't twirl it, but spun it around until he had it in a ready position. They watched each other for a while until a pink and blue blur sped straight past them. The proverbial gates then opened as both warriors charged, the Axe colliding with the shield with a lot more power than she had given him credit for. Her spear slipped under his guard, but then slid off an invisible shield, causing her to lose her balance and stumble. It was a nigh fatal mistake, as Travis then spun around faster that she thought possible and slammed her in the back, sending her a good few metres away. Her aura had already taken a lot of damage, and Travis was still almost full.

She back-flipped away from the bull and deployed her rifle, taking cover behind her shield. She fired round after round into his armour as well as using her semblance to drag him away from her as he unsuccessfully attempted to get closer to the Spartan, never getting the chance of a good run-up. The dust rounds took a heavy toll on his aura, so he concentrated it in his legs and allowed his armour to absorb the damage. He then changed his mode and fired slug after slug from the Auto-cannon into Pyhrra, who barely escaped the barrage.

She switched to her sword form and lanced into him, getting up close with her blade, inside the axes arc. They locked for a second, her shield against his axe as she stabbed her sword into his chest, attempting to degenerate his Aura as fast as she could. She was almost there when she heard the sound of a chainsaw. She looked up and saw that Travis had flipped the axe over to the chain teeth pointed at her. He then dis-engaged from the lock and pushed down on the axe into her shoulder, rapidly depleting her aura. She dis-engaged with the sliver of power she had left and turned to fire her rifle, only to be slammed once again as unconsciousness overtook her.

Travis watched as the last reserves of his power sent his opponent flying into the safe zone. Completely accidentally. He smiled to himself as he thought about his fight before collapsing on the floor, joining the Spartan in unconsciousness.

* * *

Weiss was frustrated. Not only had she been told that she was unworthy for a leadership position, but apparently the scythe wielding dunce was more qualified. Now she was pissed, and she wasn't going to waste time in proving herself, especially against a Faunus. She spun the chamber on Myrtenaster, activated a glyph and lanced straight for the cat, attempting to end the bout in a single blow. Much to her dismay, the cat side-stepped and pulled out dual SMGs, pelting her with dust-rounds from 50 metres away. Weiss, furious at herself for not completely annihilating her target, swung around and tried again, with similar results. She roared with anger and went for it for a third time, but this time she stopped short of her target, surprising Rachel as Weiss then assaulted her. Rachel back-flipped away and fired her SMGs, attempting to stop the icy onslaught. Weiss never gave her a chance as she ruthlessly speared Rachel over and over until she was sure that victory was hers, until Rachel wasn't there.

Rachel, using her semblance, ended up far away from the dis-orientated fencer. She deployed her rifle, took aim and barraged the princess. The hyper accurate rounds found their target every time, taking their toll on Weiss' Aura. Weiss tracked the source of the barrage and found Rachel, immediately charging her once more. Rachel activated her Rifles ability and took aim. Satisfied that the princess was going to stay on course, she fired, the round lighting up with a golden power, sailing straight towards the princess. As soon as the shell had exited the chamber, Weiss was slammed into the ground. She re-orientated herself and found Jaune on top of her.

"Uh, hi there, snow angel…" he attempted. Weiss huffed and threw him off, immediately charging off towards the sniper, into the heavy shell that she was previously saved from. Her Aura dipped into dangerous territory, but she ignored the biological warning signs and stood up, ready to finish the fight. An upperclassman shouted at them that the battle was over, but she ignored him, charging the sniper. Rachel, who had stood down when she was told to, was not expecting the white flurry to dart towards her. Nor was she expecting it to suddenly trip over and face-grind into the dirt for a few metres as a black ring circled her legs. Goodwitch summoned the medics and sent them off to look after the princess.

"Weiss, after complaining about your leader, and then offering yourself for the position, I would have expected you to show off something that made you worthy of the position. Letting you emotions rule is not a quality we look for in leadership. I expected you to know better, considering your record."

Rachel stood awkwardly as she watched the white haired detainee as she was pulled from the earth and unceremoniously thrown over one of the medics' shoulders as they took her away, the look of guilt and shame evident even as she slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

As soon as Goodwitch gave the signal, the two boys immediately drew their weapons, both observing the other, waiting for their opponent to give away their weakness. Ren was the first, taking the initiative and launching a ranged strike, leaving himself open to retaliation. Taking the bait, knowing full well it was a trap, Luka leaped out of the way and retaliated in kind. The two fired at each other until they ran out of ammo. Luka went to reload, inevitably surprised when Ren went on the offensive once more, running towards him with Storm Flower, the blades gleaming wickedly in the afternoon light. Luka snapped the revolver closed and pulled out his sword just in time to deflect the blades. The impact knocked Luka back slightly and Ren took the opportunity. Luka was constantly off-balance, never getting the chance to counter attack, until he shocked Ren. The current, with power equivalent to a Taser, coursed through Storm Flower as Ren struck the metal blade of Vox Lupus, dis-orientating the warrior enough for Luka to dis-engage and recover. Luka then brutally took the opportunity to give himself superiority by running up to the disorientated man and round-kicking him in the head before back-flipping away, deploying his bow and firing.

Ren shook off the kick just in time to receive the deadly projectiles, Lukas' arrows flew towards him in a hail of metal and wood. He quickly recovered, taking the first three arrows before using his aura to shatter the projectiles. Luka saw that his assault was in-effective and folded up his bow, switching back to his gun and sword combo, rushing his opponent. Ren saw the assault and blocked the bullets with his aura, only to collide with the Wolf. Ren dis-armed Luka with a well-placed fist, only for Luka to retaliate in kind, slamming into Rens' chin and then kneeing him twice. Luka dropped his opponent and went to retrieve his weapon only to receive a flying kick to the back seconds later. Ren quickly followed up by boosting himself with aura and grabbing the stunned wolfs' body armour from behind, launching himself towards the lone oak tree that stood in the centre of the arena. Luka quickly broke the hold on one of Rens' hands before swinging around and grappling the CQC fighter, launching towards the tree. They bypassed many fighters, either still engaged or moving towards the medical bay. They were a swirl of blue and pink aura, each attempting to gain the dominant position before they collided with the thick trunk of the oak. Neither fighter gained the position, and they kicked off of each other seconds before impact.

After colliding with the ground, both teens stood up. Ren looked as if he was about to keel over, whereas Luka looked ready to fight a pack of Ursai. Goodwitch walked over to the fighters. A pair of medics carrying a white body while being followed by the meek form of Rachel bypassed her on their way to the safe zone. She looked at her scroll for a second before promptly chucking it to Luka.

"Care to explain?"

Luka looked down to see the scroll flicker to life, the stats of both Ren and Luka, both aura's flashing in the low red. He shrugged and handed the device back, which promptly flashed the 'low battery' signal and shut down. He then realised that he had unconsciously activated his semblance and had been draining power from nearby electrical sources, including scrolls. He de-activated his semblance and let the built up electrical power flow back into their original sources. The scroll flickered to life once more, softening the professors features. She examined the aura bars and quickly came to a judgment.

"You can either end this with a draw, or go for a sudden death round. One more hit and you'd both be unconscious anyway."

The teens looked at each other and simultaneously shook their heads, supporting each other as they stumbled back to the safe zone.

"A wise choice. Oh, and Luka?" Goodwitch asked, gaining the attention of the weary wolf. "I owe you an apology. And my condolences." She stated, walking off towards the ongoing fights, confusing the wolf.

* * *

The three teams were all assembled at the safe point, medics and nurses quickly healing wounds as small packs of an unknown liquid were distributed between the students. The thick liquid didn't taste of anything in particular, but did wonders to re-energise the students. The almost all of unconscious students had recovered, excluding Weiss, who was apparently too stubborn to regain consciousness, either naturally or forcibly, according to the doctors. Pyhrra had somehow managed to land on the ground, and not in one of the medical tents. The teams were discussing their fights, Jaune retelling his tale of fear.

"…I literally thought you were going to knock me into next year, and I most certainly didn't expect to win."

"At least I went out with a bang!" Yang shouted, punching the air, causing all the other students to groan. "What, it wasn't that bad, was it?"

"It was awful." Ruby replied, with a general consensus from the other students.

Luka checked his watch, analogue, to prevent his natural static electricity damaging the time-telling device, and nudged his fellow leaders.

"We got about ten minutes until the next lesson starts. I'll see you there"

Ruby nodded and Jaune grunted, listening to Pyhrra and Travis' tale of battle.


	10. Chapter 10

Luka walked into the abandoned auditorium. He would have thought that he was lost of not for the presence of Professor Ozpin at the head of the class with _Team Management_ written in chalk at the top of the board. Luka was still in his combat gear from training and had rushed straight over to the lecture, but it would appear to have been for naught. He nodded to the enigmatic teacher and took a place towards the back of the hall.

"I'm not that scary, am I?" Ozpin asked jokingly, smirking behind his cup as Luka waved him off, blushing slightly.

"No sir, but I prefer it up here." Luka replied.

Ozpin nodded to him and turned towards the door, waiting for the rest of the first year leaders to arrive. He didn't have to wait long as students in an assortment of different outfits filed through the door, none of them being the uniform. Ruby dragged Jaune in, spied Luka and scrambled up the stairs to meet him. She quickly took a place next to him, gesturing for Jaune to do the same. As soon as he had sat down, Cardin and another man burst through the door, roaring with laughter. Lukas features darkened as he examined the students.

"That can't be good." He said, mostly to himself.

"Cardins' new best bud. That's about eight heavily armed students out to get me now." Jaune sighed, sliding down into his seat. Ruby shot him a sympathetic look before trying to make herself as small as possible.

"What's wrong with you two?" Luka asked, unaware.

"Didn't you see that guy fighting?" Ruby countered, confused. "You were at the last lecture, right? Combat training?" she then added sarcastically.

"Of course I was, but I was probably too busy fighting Ren."

"I saw that. Looked intense." Jaune stated half-heartedly, shrinking further as the two men started to climb the stairs, still not noticing the cowering students around them, nor the impatient look of their professor.

"If Mr Winchester and Miss Wight would please take their seats, it would be appreciated." Ozpin asked politely and impatiently. The pair sat down two rows down from the group, eliciting sighs of relief from all three.

"Wait, she's a girl?" Jaune asked, shocked. Luka examined the armoured warrior. She was built like an ox, bearing thicker muscles than Cardin, who took pride in his own vanity. She didn't wear make-up, unlike most of the women he had seen, her face was rugged and scarred, and had her messy hair nearly shaven bald at the sides, the top coming down into a short pony tail offset to the left slightly.

"I don't see it." Luka replied to Jaune's rhetorical question, snapping the teen out of his momentary daze.

"Well, it is possible…" Ruby murmured.

"Obviously true, in any case." Luka replied, settling down with his notebook open, his pen in hand.

"Well, now that we are all here, allow me to welcome you to Team management classes. This first lesson shall be introductory, but informative, so please pay attention." Ozpin said, his voice projected throughout the room. A piece of chalk hovered behind him, writing on the board everything he said. "This course is not actually anything to do with team management. I didn't come up with the name, so from now on, this class shall be known as tactical and strategic training. In this course you shall learn the ins and outs of everything from commanding a strike mission to collaborating and orchestrating multiple assaults at once, and when were done with tactical training, we will be working with military elements and training to command an army. Any questions before we continue?"

A girl in the front row tentatively put up her hand.

"Yes?"

"Uhm, I can understand the need for tactical training, with squad based command, but why do we need training in commanding an army?"

"A good question indeed. Not every student at this school will become a hunter. While it is the preferred duty to become the bastion against the darkness that threatens to consume all, some students go on to become not Heroes, but Leaders, Commanders, people who will organise and lead a strike from afar."

"What's the difference?" a boy from three rows down called out.

"Contrary to popular opinion, it's quite different. A hero is someone who throws themselves into the enemy while performing an act of extreme bravery, valour and, to put it in plain terms, heroism. To defend not only your comrades but your people from the Grimm. That is a hero. That is a Hunter." Ozpin said inspiringly. A few students sat up in their seats, listening intently. He then turned towards the board, waiting a few seconds before turning back, his face dark and brooding.

"A Leader, on the other hand is someone who takes the duty of locking themselves in safety while telling their men to kill the enemy, and most likely themselves in the process. They get the agonisingly painful duty of listening to an entire squad of men get wiped out in a horrifyingly brutal way, and then have the audacity to tell the next team to the exact same thing and hope that the enemy is no longer too much for their soldiers to handle."

A few students were downcast, the prospect of leadership no longer as enticing as they thought, whereas most students looked shocked, unaware of the role a leader took. A select few, Luka included, showed little to know expression, either not expressing their discomfort, not feeling discomfort or, in Luka's case, re-enforcing what they already knew.

"Um… Sir… how is someone selected for a leadership role?" a small Faunus boy in the front row asked.

"Volunteers will be put through a selection process to see if they meet the requirements. Otherwise, it goes to who we believe are the most qualified."

"And what are those qualifications?" the Wight girl asked, her feet up on the table and her arms behind her head, looking extremely relaxed.

"Most of the time, it's whoever wants the position the least. And before you ask, we judge that on grades."

A few students who looked like they were planning to flunk the subject immediately straightened, paying attention. Ozpin smiled at their reactions.

"Now that the dark and grizzly part of the lesson is over, let's move on to something a little more light hearted." Ozpin said, a duster rising up to remove everything the chalk had written.

"Team Management 101. Or, now, Tactical and Strategic Command training."

Ozpin moved over to the podium, reached underneath and did something, but as he did, the floor at the bottom of the amphitheatre slid apart, revealing a massive table with a glass surface. The glass then lit up with blue light, a crosshatch of blue squares appearing upon its surface, the lines racing from one side of the table to the other. When all the lines had come to their end, they rose up, forming buildings, trees, spires and parks until it had formed a 3D holographic replica of Beacon. After a few seconds, the model changed into a fully, and accurately, coloured hologram.

"This is what is known as a Tactical Command Display, or a TCD for short. On this device, you shall have mock battles with each other, shown other battles from the past and possible scenarios that could happen here in Vale, as well as other theatres."

Ozpin pressed a button and the table split in half with a massive solid wall rising up in-between the two halves.

"This is to prevent 'screen cheating' as my former students have so lovingly named."

The two halves zoomed in to reveal two squads of four, one team on either side of the divider.

"Now, for the introductory lesson, I will show you the basic units we shall be using in squad based tactics. Later you shall get virtual units based off of your own squad, so as to help you in commanding your own team further. For now, unit 1 is your commander. This is both the weakest and the strongest unit." The chalkboard suddenly pushed out, rotated 180 degrees and returned to the wall, revealing a 95" screen. The screen lit up to show a detailed model of the soldier.

The model had a standard dark and light grey Vale military uniform with the red highlights of a special operations team, but had stars upon his shoulder. He had a sword and a pistol.

"This unit is a 'jack of all trades' kind of soldier. It can use a melee attack, a ranged attack as well as an aura based attack. In addition to this, a commander can call in special bonuses, like extra ordinance or an off-map artillery strike."

The screen flickered, showing the second unit. It wore dark grey heavy armour and wielded a great sword.

"The second unit is your melee soldier. Devastating at close range and heavy armour helps it against physical ranged attacks. This particular unit, the Titan, is susceptible to Aura based attacks, especially from a distance, and AP attacks."

The third unit came up on screen. It wore dark grey scout armour and wielded a massive rifle.

"The third type, the ranged unit, uses ranged weapons to devastate their enemies. If you get close to these units, usually they will fail in combat, as distance is the advantage. This unit, the Scout, is especially disadvantaged against melee and command units."

The final model flicked onto the screen. It wore cloth armour and wielded a massive staff.

"The final unit is indeed the Aura unit. These units are effective against Command and Melee units, but fall short in combating ranged soldiers. This model, the Arch mage, is easy to kill, but has a lot of power."

"Sir. This does seem a lot like a game." A boy in the middle of the stands stated.

"Indeed it does, but it is effective in training you for these situations."

The boy nodded, then asked. "What other types of units are there?"

Ozpin turned to the screen and waved his hand. It flickered until there was a massive list of all the different models.

"I really need to fix that…" he mumbled, turning around. "Those are all the unit types there are. But if you meant other models, then the list goes: Command; the Commander, the Sergeant and the Captain. Melee; the Minotaur, the Titan, the Assassin and the Duellist. Ranged; the Scout, the Sniper, the Trooper and the Mech. Aura; the Archmage, the Battle mage, the Farseer and the Warlock. It will take too much time to explain all their advantages and disadvantages and special abilities and all that technical stuff, so you'll do it for homework."

The kid sat back in awe.

"Now that that is over, any questions?"

No-one put up their hand.

"Well, we have ten minutes of class left, so how about a mock battle. Any takers?"

Wight stood up, her hand raised. Everyone else slinked back into their seats.

"Any challengers?" Ozpin asked.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Luka stood up, his hand raised.

"Sure, why not?"

"Why not? She'll destroy you! Both figuratively and literally!" Jaune whispered loudly at him.

"Worth a shot, I'd say."

Luka walked down and stood at the opposite end of the table, his opponent staring at him hungrily.

"Both teams ready?"

They both nodded.

"Start."

Luka immediately looked at the units stats. He'd played his fair share of strategy games, and knew that understanding the soldiers and their abilities were key to victory. He scrolled over the scout and found an ability which launched a probe at the enemy. He selected it and a small screen came up on his side of the divider. He then noticed the divider was an area mini-map, like in a computer game.

The probe pinged them three times. They were rushing him at top speed. He selected his commander, looking for the aforementioned off-map artillery strikes. He found one and launched it at where he predicted they would be. Seconds later, a blue banner came up on screen with the word 'VICTORY' fluttering on it. He laughed at its likeness to a computer game, and his opponent's rookie mistake.

Wight looked shocked for a second, then screamed in rage.

"HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!?"

"Luka predicted your position using the scouts probe, I believe. He then used the Commanders Artillery strike ability and wiped your team. Though the rubble crushing your surviving Titan was quite unfortunate." Ozpin consoled

Luka smirked. Terrain was realistic, it seemed.

"Well, due to Lukas' masterstroke assault, we still have some time. Any challengers for the reigning Champion?"

No-one put up their hand. Luka looked up at Jaune and waved him down. Jaune looked embarrassed at first, rejecting the offer, until Ruby pulled him up and pushed him slightly towards the front of the room. He stumbled down the stairs until he came to a stop at the opposite end of the table.

"Ready?"

They both nodded.

"Start."

Luka looked at his screen and found that he'd started in a different position. He sent out the probe and saw that Jaune wasn't moving. At all. He sighed and fired his artillery at Jaune. Seconds later, the screen shook with the impact, but no banner came up, or any confirmed kills. Luka looked at his soldiers again, checking their cool downs, when he spied an ability from the Archmage. It was a jamming ability that messed with the enemy's mini-map, the hologram and targeting abilities. Luka cursed and scrambled his solders. A few seconds later, artillery devastated his field of view. Luka looked up at the surprised Jaune, who was staring at his monitor. Luka's Scout had been incapacitated. Luka moved his Archmage over to heal as he regrouped inside a ruined spire. A minute later, after reviving his scout and moving closer, he detected Jaunes' soldiers at Beacons central spire. Luka checked his abilities and found an airstrike on the Titan. He targeted the spire and sent it on its way. Again, there was no kill markers, but Ozpin gave him a disapproving look.

"My office was in there, you know."

Luka smiled back and returned to his game, noticing that his screen was glitchy. He sent out the probe again and found that Jaune was behind him. Luka activated his own jamming ability and moved forward, running straight into Jaunes forces. He sent his Scout to better cover and set his Titan, along with his Archmage, up in the lower courtyard while his Commander took up a position within the actual spire, moving to outflank Jaune. The mini-map still showed that Jaune was behind him, but his soldiers steadily moved in front of him. He set up the scout and targeted the Archmage. Seconds later, the gun fired and '_Team 2 Archmage crippled_' came up in the battle feed.

Jaune looked shocked, then looked at Luka. The interference left as the Arch mages' ability was dispelled. Luka rushed the rest of the formation with his Titan, his Archmage summoning a defensive field over the warrior. Luka noticed that the scout was missing and sent his Commander to look through the spire, the only defensive structure within the field of view. He fired a high-impact round from his Scout at Jaunes Titan, staggering it before his own hit it, knocking Jaunes off balance. Then, suddenly, his own Archmage was killed. Luka noticed a line from the ruins of the central spire lance out and hit the unit in the action replay on the divider. He immediately sent his Commander after it.

Jaunes Titan had gotten up and started fighting back against his own titan, Jaunes Commander also firing his pistol at the unfortunate Titan. Without the Energy shield, he would be downed before it could kill Jaunes own. Luka targeted the Commander with his Scout and fired. His commander took damage, but didn't die. Jaune moved the Commander behind cover, still in range of Lukas' Titan. Luka selected his Commander and used an Artillery strike on Jaunes forces. It had just come off its cool down, So Jaunes probably was about to. Two kills came up onscreen. Lukas' Titan and Jaunes' Commander. Luka ordered his scout to fire again, this time killing its target. As soon as the titan had fallen, Jaunes' scout took out Lukas from a pile of rubble near the fallen spire. Luka cursed, down to one man as well. He had the advantage of knowing where Jaunes scout was, while the scout didn't know his position.

He then saw an enemy probe. So much for stealth.

Luka moved the Commander up through the rubble, using the ruin as cover while Jaune constantly fired at him. Luka moved the commander up further until he found himself stumped. There were three ways around. Through a killing field, a long, flat gap between himself and the scout, through the spire and out into another, smaller killing field, or around the long way, through the dorms and into the cafeteria, where the Scout had taken refuge. He took the safe option, moving through the field. He heard the scout fire from time to time, trying to flush out the commander. Luka checked his abilities and activated the rocket strike, targeting the building. The rocket didn't kill the Scout, but it did put a massive blockade between the Commander and the Scouts' line of sight.

He heard the first years for the first time. They were oohing and ahhing as the battle took place. He looked up to see the screen displaying the battle on a 30 second time-lapse, probably so participants couldn't cheat. The bell went in the distance, but Ozpin gestured for them to continue.

"It shouldn't take long" he reasoned.

Luka turned back to the hologram and moved his Commander through the damaged Dormitories. As he got close he saw that moving over the damaged skywalk would open his Commander up to sniper fire. He moved towards the skywalk and saw the Scout waiting for him on the other side, overwatch activated. Luka smiled. Wong move. The last unit in the game for each team gained an extra bonus. The Commanders was called the 'Survival training', giving the Commander the same equipment as a trooper, as well as his own. Luka rolled a grenade down the walkway and saw it detonate exactly where the Scout was. Yet, there was no death message. _A decoy?_

He looked around the building and saw the sound marker immediately behind him. There was a shot as the wall next to his Commander was hit. Luka sent the unit straight for the Scout and slashed at him, killing the pesky unit once and for all.

The blue banner came up with the victory message as Jaune leaned backwards, groaning. When he righted himself, Luka saw that Jaune was far from sad. He had the widest smile plastered on his face.

Thirty seconds later, the hall erupted with applause.

"Well students, you now know what it will be like in this class. I expect everyone to have memorised every unit and their details, as well as assembled your own personal team, by next week." Ozpin ordered, walking out of the classroom. "Oh, and one more thing. Don't let the prospect of leadership deter you from this class. The scores you receive here will help you overall team Combat Effectiveness, so don't sell yourself short." He shot a look at Jaune before moving off again. "That is all."

The leaders began to slowly file out of the hall, many congratulating both Luka and Jaune on their game, though some were less than happy for the pair. As Wight and Winchester walked past, they threw sneers and death stares at Jaune and Luka, respectively. The final person to join them in leaving was Ruby.

"OH MY OUM! That was awesome! Jaune, you were all like 'nuke them from orbit', and Luka was all like 'oh HELL no!' and there were explosions and buildings falling down and guns and…" she immediately burst out, wrapping her arms around the two boys necks as she laughed.

"Okay Ruby, calm down. You'll get your turn soon enough." Luka laughed with her.

"But seriously! You were both awesome!"

"I guess we were." Jaune smiled, leading the way out of the hall "Well, for a first time, anyway."

"You were pretty good at it. Using my own tactic against me though, that would have been embarrassing."

"Well, it worked the first time." Ruby pointed out.

"It did indeed." Luka agreed.

"Certainly not going to help in the friends department." Jaune mumbled, more to himself.

"Who needs friends like that anyway?" Ruby asked rhetorically.

"Not you, you have a scythe. Who needs friends when you have oversized crop cutters?" Luka teased

"Hey! I'll have you know that Crimson is my bestest and most loyal friend!" Ruby defended in mock hurt.

"I'm sure she is." Luka laughed.

"It's a dude." Jaune corrected.

"Yup!" Ruby seconded as she skipped away, happily hugging the weapon as they made their way back to their dorms.

"Right…"

"You two coming?" Ruby asked, stopping halfway down the hall.

"Yeah, yeah, coming."

* * *

"…And there was this MASSIVE Nevermore, just swooping down and eating all my sheep!" Nora exclaimed, recalling her latest dream.

The three teams were, once again, at dinner. They sat at the same table and in the same order, though they had gotten changed into their casual clothes.

Amongst the light chatter, there was feeling Luka couldn't shake off. He felt his spine shiver over and over. He knew he was being watched, but by where from, and more importantly, who, he couldn't find out without causing a scene. Not yet. He was about to stand up and look around when Rachel interrupted.

"So, how was leadership training or whatever." She asked.

"Huh? Oh. It was good, I guess." He replied, sweeping the people in front with his eyes again, making sure it wasn't from that direction.

"Good? It was Awesome! You should have seen these two!" Ruby exclaimed, gesturing to Luka and Jaune.

"We weren't that good…" Jaune said modestly, coyly looking down at his food.

"Ursa shit!" Ruby retorted.

"Language!" Yang shot at her, slapping her arm.

"Sorry. Anyway, there were explosions and guns and he was like 'boom!' and then he was like 'kablam' and they took down Ozpins office and, and, and it was so freaking cool!" Ruby screamed, unabashed by her sisters chastising.

"Uh, you guys tell the story, I got to go…" Luka stated, standing up.

"Go? Go where?" Ruby asked.

"Where do you think?" Luka replied sarcastically.

"Huh? Oh! Right..."

The group laughed as Luka took off in the opposite direction, scanning the sea of students. He saw a white haired boy smirk at him. He motioned towards himself, staring at Luka, before taking off down the exit and into the hall. Luka broke out into a run after him, his only weapon, the gun, slapping his left ribs as he ran, his jumper unzipped which made it flap about as he ran. After dodging students and apologising while on the run, he made it to the door. The kid was nowhere to be seen, and the hall was almost abandoned. A third year student waved at him, grabbing his attention.

"Uh, I have a message from a friend." He said.

"A message? What's it say?"

"He said, 'Luka has made his move. Your turn.' Are you two playing some sort of game?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, it's a game. He's made his move. Right. What did he look like?"

"What?" the student asked sceptically.

"He's a professional cosplayer, he can almost shape shift." Luka saved, thinking fast.

"Ah. Well, sort of like you, except with white hair and red eyes." The man described.

"Cheeky bastard. Thankyou for telling me." Luka said, taking off in supposed pursuit of his 'friend'.

Luka head straight back to his room instead, thinking it over. _What would someone who looks like me and is using my name what with me? It's obviously not good._ His inner voice agreed, but could not find a solution. '_Perhaps we should ask her?'_ it suggested, the mental image of a familiar dragon coming to mind. Resolute in his plan, Luka deftly took off his shoes and slid into his bed, ready for answers. There was only one problem.

He wasn't tired.

Luka groaned, rolling back out of his bed. He needed a way to fall asleep, fast.

_It's probably not the best idea I've had, and will raise questions… but here goes…_ He thought, following through with the one sure-fire way to make him fall asleep. He moved to one side of the room, clearing a small circle. He activated his semblance but, instead of draining the aura, he let it flow back out into electrical sources. He heard the light bulb blow, but kept going, forcing his energy out. Then, inevitably, he collapsed, unconscious.


	11. The future of HoW

Hey guys, this is probably the first time I've actually talked to you.

This is just a small notice of what will happen in the future.

I'm going to be re-writing the old chapters slightly, so they make more sense with each other, the plot, and in general. there won't be many changes, and what is changing won't affect what you've already read, only what is to come.

I hope you continue reading, and I thank you for reading this far.

Yours truly,

247skywalker.


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